LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  CRUZ 


PS 
26,57 


ENGLISH  MEN   OF  LETTERS 

pREscorr 


ENGLISH   MEN  OF   LETTERS 

WILLIAM    HICKLING 
PRESCOTT 

BY 
HARRY   THURSTON    PECK 


Nefo 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1926 

All  rights  reserved 


FEINTED    IN   THE   UNITED   STATES   OF   AMERICA 


COPYBIOHT,    1905, 

BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  May,  1905. 
Reissued  September,  1926. 


Nortoooti 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


WILLIAM  ARCHIBALD 

AMICITIJE   CAUSA 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

FOR  the  purely  biographical  portion  of  this  book  an 
especial  acknowledgment  of  obligation  is  due  to  the 
valuable  collection  of  Prescott's  letters  and  memoranda 
made  by  his  friend  George  Ticknor,  and  published  in 
1864  as  part  of  Ticknor's  Life  of  W.  H.  Prescott.  All 
other  available  sources,  however,  have  been  explored, 
and  are  specifically  mentioned  either  in  the  text  or  in 
the  footnotes. 

H.  T.  P. 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
March  1,  1905. 


VJ1 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGB 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HISTORIANS 1 

CHAPTER   II 
EARLY  YEARS    .  .......       13 


CHAPTER   III 
THE  CHOICE  OF  A  CAREER 39 

CHAPTER  IV 
SUCCESS 64 

CHAPTER  V 
IN  MID  CAREER         .        .        .        .->.'.        .        .       72 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS       .  .     .        V        .        .         .        .99 

CHAPTER   VII 

"FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA"  —  PRESCOTT'S  STYLE         .     121 

ix 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PAOI 

"THE  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  AS  LITERATURE  AND  AS 

HISTORT       .        .        .        .        .        .        <  133 


CHAPTER  IX 
"THE  CONQUEST  OF  PERU  "  — " PHILIP  II."  .        •        .    160 

CHAPTER  X 
PRESCOTT'S  RANK  AS  AN  HISTORIAN         .        .        «        .     173 

INDEX  181 


pREscorr 


WILLIAM   HICKLING   PRESCOTT 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   NEW    ENGLAND     HISTORIANS 

THROUGHOUT  the  first  few  decades  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  United  States,  though  forming  a  political 
entity,  were  in  everything  but  name  divided  into  three 
separate  nations,  each  one  of  which  was  quite  unlike 
the  other  two.  This  difference  sprang  partly  from 
the  character  of  the  population  in  each,  partly  from 
divergent  tendencies  in  American  colonial  develop- 
ment, and  partly  from  conditions  which  were  the 
result  of  both  these  causes.  The  culture-history, 
therefore,  of  each  of  the  three  sections  exhibits, 
naturally  enough,  a  distinct  and  definite  phase  of 
intellectual  activity,  which  is  reflected  very  clearly  in 
the  records  of  American  literature. 

In  the  Southern  States,  just  as  in  the  Southern 
colonies  out  of  which  they  grew,  the  population  was 
homogeneous  and  of  English  stock.  Almost  the  sole 
occupation  of  the  people  was  agriculture,  while  the 
tone  of  society  was  markedly  aristocratic,  as  was  to 
be  expected  from  a  community  dominated  by  great 
landowners  who  were  also  the  masters  of  many 
slaves.  These  landowners,  living  on  their  estates 
rather  than  in  towns  and  cities,  caring  nothing  for 

B  1 


2  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

commerce  or  for  manufactures,  separated  from  one 
another  by  great  distances,  and  cherishing  the  intensely 
conservative  traditions  of  that  England  which  saw 
the  last  of  the  reigning  Stuarts,  were  inevitably  des- 
tined to  intellectual  stagnation.  The  management  of 
their  plantations,  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  and  the 
exercise  of  a  splendid  though  half-barbaric  hospitality, 
satisfied  the  ideals  which  they  had  inherited  from  their 
Tory  ancestors.  Horses  and  hounds,  a  full-blooded 
conviviality,  and  the  exercise  of  a  semi-feudal  power, 
occupied  their  minds  and  sufficiently  diverted  them. 
Such  an  atmosphere  was  distinctly  unfavourable  to 
the  development  of  a  love  of  letters  and  of  learning. 
The  Southern  gentleman  regarded  the  general  diffusion 
of  education  as  a  menace  to  his  class  ;  while  for  him- 
self he  thought  it  more  or  less  unnecessary.  He 
gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  affairs  by  virtue  of 
his  position.  As  for  culture,  he  had  upon  the  shelves 
of  his  library,  where  also  were  displayed  his  weapons 
and  the  trophies  of  the  chase,  a  few  hundred  volumes 
of  the  standard  essayists,  poets,  and  dramatists  of  a 
century  before.  If  he  seldom  read  them  and  never 
added  to  them,  they  at  least  implied  a  recognition  of 
polite  learning  and  such  a  degree  of  literary  taste  as 
befitted  a  Virginian  or  Carolinian  gentleman.  But, 
practically,  English  literature  had  for  him  come  to  an 
end  with  Addison  and  Steele  and  Pope  and  their  con- 
temporaries. The  South  stood  still  in  the  domain  of 
letters  and  education.  Not  that  there  were  lacking 
men  who  cherished  the  ambition  to  make  for  them- 
selves a  name  in  literature.  There  were  many  such, 
among  whom  Gayarre',  Beverly,  and  Byrd  deserve  an 
honourable  remembrance  j  but  their  surroundings  were 


i.]  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HISTORIANS  3 

unfavourable,  and  denied  to  them  that  intelligent 
appreciation  which  inspires  the  man  of  letters  to  press 
on  to  fresh  achievement.  An  interesting  example  is 
found  in  the  abortive  history  of  Virginia  undertaken 
by  Dr.  William  Stith,  who  was  President  of  William 
and  Mary  College,  and  who  possessed  not  only  schol- 
arship but  the  gift  of  literary  expression.  The  work 
which  he  began,  however,  was  left  unfinished,  because 
of  an  utter  lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  public 
for  whom  it  had  been  undertaken.  Dr.  Stith's  own 
quaint  comment  throws  a  light  upon  contemporary 
conditions.  He  had  laboured  diligently  in  collecting 
documents  which  represented  original  sources  of  infor- 
mation; yet,  when  he  came  to  publish  the  first  and 
only  volume  of  his  history,  he  omitted  many  of  them, 
giving  as  his  reason:  — 

"  I  perceive,  to  my  no  small  Surprise  and  Mortification, 
that  some  of  my  Countrymen  (and  those  too,  Persons  of 
high  Fortune  and  Distinction)  seemed  to  be  much  alarmed, 
and  to  grudge,  that  a  complete  History  of  their  own  Country 
would  run  to  more  than  one  Volume,  and  cost  them  above 
half  a  Pistole.  I  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  restrain  my 
Hand,  .  .  .  for  fear  of  enhancing  the  Price,  to  the  immense 
Charge  and  irreparable  Damage  of  such  generous  and  pub- 
lick-spirited  Gentlemen." * 

The  Southern  universities  were  meagrely  attended ; 
and  though  the  sons  of  wealthy  planters  might  some- 
times be  sent  to  Oxford  or,  more  usually,  to  Princeton 
or  to  Yale,  the  discipline  thus  acquired  made  no 
general  impression  upon  the  class  to  which  they 
belonged.  In  fact,  the  intellectual  energy  of  the  South 
found  its  only  continuous  and  powerful  expression  in 

1  Quoted  by  Jameson  :  Historical  Writing  in  America,  p.  72, 
Boston,  189L 


4  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

the  field  of  politics.  To  government  and  statesmanship 
its  leading  minds  gave  much  attention,  for  only  thus 
could  they  retain  in  national  affairs  the  supremacy 
which  they  arrogated  to  themselves  and  which  was 
necessary  to  preserve  their  peculiar  institution.  Hence, 
there  were  to  be  found  among  the  leaders  of  the 
Southern  people  a  few  political  philosophers  like 
Jefferson,  a  larger  number  of  political  casuists  like 
Calhoun,  and  a  swarm  of  political  rhetoricians  like  Pat- 
rick Henry,  Hayne,  Legare,  and  Yancey.  But  beyond 
the  limits  of  political  life  the  South  was  intellec- 
tually sterile.  So  narrowing  and  so  hostile  to  lib- 
eral culture  were  its  social  conditions  that  even  to 
this  day  it  has  not  produced  a  single  man  of  letters 
who  can  be  truthfully  described  as  eminent,  unless 
the  name  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe  be  cited  as  an  excep- 
tion whose  very  brilliance  serves  only  to  prove  and 
emphasise  the  rule. 

In  the  Middle  States,  on  the  other  hand,  a  very  dif- 
ferent condition  of  things  existed.  Here  the  popula- 
tion was  never  homogeneous.  The  English  Royalists 
and  the  Dutch  in  New  York,  the  English  Quakers  and 
the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  Swedes  in  Dela- 
ware, made  inevitable,  from  the  very  first,  a  cosmopoli- 
tanism that  favoured  variety  of  interests,  with  a 
resulting  breadth  of  view  and  liberality  of  thought. 
Manufactures  flourished  and  foreign  commerce  was 
extensively  pursued,  insuring  diversity  of  occupation. 
The  two  chief  cities  of  the  nation  were  here,  and  not 
far  distant  from  each  other.  Wealth  was  not  unevenly 
distributed,  and  though  the  patroon  system  had  cre- 
ated in  New  York  a  landed  gentry,  this  class  was 
small,  and  its  influence  was  only  one  of  many.  Com- 


i.]  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  HISTORIANS  5 

fort  was  general,  religious  freedom  was  unchallenged, 
education  was  widely  and  generally  diffused.  The 
large  urban  population  created  an  atmosphere  of  ur- 
banity. Even  in  colonial  times,  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia were  the  least  provincial  of  American  towns. 
They  attracted  to  themselves,  not  only  the  most  inter- 
esting people  from  the  other  sections,  but  also  many  a 
European  wanderer,  who  found  there  most  of  the 
essential  graces  of  life,  with  little  or  none  of  that 
combined  austerity  and  rawness  which  elsewhere 
either  disgusted  or  amused  him.  We  need  not  wonder, 
then,  if  it  was  in  the  Middle  States  that  American 
literature  really  found  its  birth,  or  if  the  forms  which 
it  there  assumed  were  those  which  are  touched  by 
wit  and  grace  and  imagination.  Franklin,  frozen  and 
repelled  by  what  he  thought  the  bigotry  of  Boston, 
sought  very  early  in  his  life  the  more  congenial  atmos- 
phere of  Philadelphia,  where  he  found  a  public  for 
his  copious  writings,  which,  if  not  precisely  literature, 
were,  at  any  rate,  examples  of  strong,  idiomatic  Eng- 
lish, conveying  the  shrewd  philosophy  of  an  original 
mind.  Charles  Brockden  Brown  first  blazed  the  way 
in  American  fiction  with  six  novels,  amid  whose  turgid 
sentences  and  strange  imaginings  one  may  here  and 
there  detect  a  touch  of  genuine  power  and  a  striving 
after  form.  Washington  Irving,  with  his  genial 
humour  and  well-bred  ease,  was  the  very  embodiment 
of  the  spirit  of  New  York.  Even  Professor  Barrett 
Wendell,  whose  critical  bias  is  wholly  in  favour  of  New 
England,  declares  that  Irving  was  the  first  of  Ameri- 
can men  of  letters,  as  he  was  certainly  the  first  Ameri- 
can writer  to  win  a  hearing  outside  of  his  own  country. 
And  to  these  we  may  add  still  others,  —  Freneau,  from 


6  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

whom  both  Scott  and  Campbell  borrowed;  Cooper,  with 
his  stirring  sea-tales  and  stories  of  Indian  adventure ; 
and  Bryant,  whose  early  verses  were  thought  to  be  too 
good  to  have  been  written  by  an  American.  And 
there  were  also  Drake  and  Halleck  and  Woodworth 
and  Paine,  some  of  whose  poetry  still  continues  to  be 
read  and  quoted.  The  mention  of  them  serves  as  a 
reminder  that  American  literature  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  like  English  literature  in  the  fourteenth, 
found  its  origin  where  wealth,  prosperity,  and  a  degree 
of  social  elegance  made  possible  an  appreciation  of 
belles-lettres. 

Far  different  was  it  in  New  England.  There,  as  in 
the  South,  the  population  was  homogeneous  and  Eng- 
lish. But  it  was  a  Puritan  population,  of  which  the 
environment  and  the  conditions  of  its  life  retarded, 
and  at  the  same  time  deeply  influenced,  the  evolution 
of  its  literature.  One  perceives  a  striking  parallel 
between  the  early  history  of  the  people  of  New  England 
and  that  of  the  people  of  ancient  Home.  Each  was 
forced  to  wrest  a  living  from  a  rugged  soil.  Each 
dwelt  in  constant  danger  from  formidable  enemies. 
The  Roman  was  ready  at  every  moment  to  draw  his 
sword  for  battle  with  Faliscans,  Samnites,  or  Etrus- 
cans. The  New  Englander  carried  his  musket  with 
him  even  to  the  house  of  prayer,  fearing  the  attack  of 
Pequots  or  Narragansetts.  The  exploits  of  such  half- 
mythical  Roman  heroes  as  Camillus  and  Cincinnatus 
find  their  analogue  in  the  achievements  credited  to 
Miles  Standish  and  the  doughty  Captain  Church.  Early 
Rome  knew  little  of  the  older  and  more  polished  civili- 
sation of  Greece.  New  England  was  separated  by 
vast  distances  from  the  richer  life  of  Europe.  In 


i.]  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   HISTORIANS  7 

Rome,  as  in  New  England,  religion  was  linked  closely 
with  all  the  forms  of  government  j  and  it  was  a  religion 
which  appealed  more  strongly  to  men's  sense  of  duty 
and  to  their  fears,  than  to  their  softer  feelings.  The 
Roman  gods  needed  as  much  propitiation  as  did  the 
God  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  When  a  great  calamity 
befell  the  Roman  people,  they  saw  in  it  the  wrath  of 
their  divinities  precisely  as  the  true  New  Englander 
was  taught  to  view  it  as  a  "providence."  In  both 
commonwealths,  education  of  an  elementary  sort  was 
deemed  essential ;  but  it  was  long  before  it  reached 
the  level  of  illumination. 

Like  influences  yield  like  results.  The  Roman 
character,  as  moulded  in  the  Republic's  early  years, 
was  one  of  sternness  and  efficiency.  It  lacked  gayety, 
warmth,  and  flexibility.  And  the  New  England  char- 
acter resembled  it  in  all  of  these  respects.  The  his- 
toric worthies  of  Old  Rome  would  have  been  very 
much  at  ease  in  early  Massachusetts.  Cato  the  Censor 
could  have  hobnobbed  with  old  Josiah  Quincy,  for 
they  were  temperamentally  as  like  as  two  peas.  It  is 
only  the  Romans  of  the  Empire  who  would  have  felt 
out  of  place  in  a  New  England  environment.  Horace 
might  conceivably  have  found  a  smiling  angulus  ter- 
rarum  somewhere  on  the  lower  Hudson,  but  he  would 
have  pined  away  beside  the  Nashua;  while  to  Ovid, 
Beacon  Street  would  have  seemed  as  ghastly  as  the 
frozen  slopes  of  Tomi.  And  when  we  compare  the 
native  period  of  Roman  literature  with  the  early  years 
of  New  England's  literary  history,  the  parallel  be- 
comes more  striking  still.  In  New  England,  as  in 
Rome,  beneath  all  the  forms  of  a  self-governing  and 
republican  State,  there  existed  a  genuine  aristocracy 


8  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

whose  prestige  was  based  on  public  service  of  some 
sort;  and  in  New  England,  as  in  Rome,  public  service 
had  in  it  a  theocratic  element.  In  civil  life,  the  most 
honourable  occupation  for  a  free  citizen  was  to  share 
in  this  public  service.  Hence,  the  disciplines  which 
had  a  direct  relation  to  government  were  the  only  civic 
disciplines  to  be  held  in  high  consideration.  Such  an 
attitude  profoundly  affected  the  earliest  attempts  at 
literature.  The  two  literary  or  semi-literary  pursuits 
which  have  a  close  relation  to  statesmanship  are 
oratory  and  history  —  oratory,  which  is  the  statesman's 
instrument,  and  history,  which  is  in  part  the  record  of 
his  achievements.  Therefore,  at  Rome,  a  line  of  native 
orators  arose  before  a  native  poet  won  a  hearing,  and 
therefore,  too,  the  annalists  and  chroniclers  precede 
the  dramatists. 

In  New  England  it  was  much  the  same.  Almost 
from  the  founding  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony, 
there  were  men  among  the  colonists  who  wrote  down 
with  diffusive  dulness  the  records  of  whatever  they 
had  seen  and  suffered.  Governor  William  Bradford 
composed  a  history  of  New  England;  and  Thomas 
Prince,  minister  of  the  Old  South  Church,  compiled 
another  work  of  like  title,  described  by  its  author 
as  told  "in  the  Form  of  Annals."  Hutchinson  pre- 
pared a  history  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ;  and  many  others 
had  collected  local  traditions,  which  seemed  to  them 
of  great  moment,  and  had  preserved  them  in  books, 
or  else  in  manuscripts  which  were  long  afterwards  to 
be  published  by  zealous  antiquarians.  Cotton  Mather's 
curious  Magnalia,  printed  in  1700,  was  intended  by 
its  author  to  be  history,  though  strictly  speaking  it  is 
theological  and  is  clogged  with  inappropriate  learning, 


i.]  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   HISTORIANS  9 

—  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.  The  parallel  between 
early  Rome  and  early  Massachusetts  breaks  down, 
however,  when  we  consider  the  natural  temperament 
of  the  two  peoples  as  distinct  from  that  which  external 
circumstances  cultivated  in  them.  Underneath  the 
sternness  and  severity  which  were  the  fruits  of  Puri- 
tanism, there  existed  in  the  New  England  character  a 
touch  of  spirituality,  of  idealism,  and  of  imagination 
such  as  were  always  foreign  to  the  Romans.  Under 
the  repression  of  a  grim  theocracy,  New  England 
idealism  still  found  its  necessary  outlet  in  more  than 
one  strange  form.  We  can  trace  it  in  the  hot  religious 
eloquence  of  Edwards  even  better  than  in  the  imita- 
tive poetry  of  Mrs.  Bradstreet.  It  is  to  be  found  even 
in  such  strange  panics  as  that  which  shrieked  for  the 
slaying  of  the  Salem  "  witches."  Time  alone  was 
needed  to  bring  tolerance  and  intellectual  freedom,  and 
with  them  a  freer  choice  of  literary  themes  and  moods. 
The  New  England  temper  remained,  and  still  remains, 
a  serious  one  ;  yet  ultimately  it  was  to  find  expression 
in  forms  no  longer  harsh  and  rigid,  but  modelled  upon 
the  finer  lines  of  truth  and  beauty. 

The  development  was  a  gradual  one.  The  New 
England  spirit  still  exacted  sober  subjects  of  its 
writers.  And  so  the  first  evolution  of  New  England 
literature  took  place  along  the  path  of  historical  com- 
position. The  subjects  were  still  local  or,  at  the  most, 
national ;  but  there  was  a  steady  drift  away  from  the 
annalistic  method  to  one  which  partook  of  conscious 
art.  In  the  writings  of  Jared  Sparks  there  is  seen 
imperfectly  the  scientific  spirit,  entirely  self -developed 
and  self-trained.  His  laborious  collections  of  histori- 
cal material,  and  his  dry  but  accurate  biographies, 


10  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP, 

mark  a  distinct  advance  beyond  his  predecessors.  Here, 
at  least,  are  historical  scholarship  and,  in  the  main, 
a  conscientious  scrupulosity  in  documentation.  It  is 
true  that  Sparks  was  charged,  and  not  quite  unjustly, 
with  garbling  some  of  the  material  which  he  preserved ; 
yet,  on  the  whole,  one  sees  in  him  the  founder  of  a 
school  of  American  historians.  What  he  wrote  was 
history,  if  it  was  not  literature.  George  Bancroft,  his 
contemporary,  wrote  history,  and  was  believed  for  a 
time  to  have  written  it  in  literary  form.  To-day  his 
six  huge  volumes,  which  occupied  him  fifty  years  in 
writing,  and  which  bring  the  reader  only  to  the  inau- 
guration of  Washington,  make  but  slight  appeal  to  a 
cultivated  taste.  The  work  is  at  once  too  ponderous 
and  too  rhetorical.  Still,  in  its  way,  it  marks  another 
step. 

Up  to  this  time,  however,  American  historians  were 
writing  only  for  a  restricted  public.  They  had  not 
won  a  hearing  beyond  the  country  whose  early  history 
they  told.  Their  themes  possessed  as  yet  no  interest 
for  foreign  nations,  where  the  feeble  American  Repub- 
lic was  little  known  and  little  noticed.  The  republi- 
can experiment  was  still  a  doubtful  one,  and  there  was 
nothing  in  the  somewhat  paltry  incidents  of  its  early 
years  to  rivet  the  attention  of  the  other  hemisphere. 
"  America  "  was  a  convenient  term  to  denote  an  indefi- 
nite expanse  of  territory  somewhere  beyond  seas.  A 
London  bishop  could  write  to  a  clergyman  in  New 
York  and  ask  him  for  details  about  the  work  of  a 
missionary  in  Newfoundland  without  suspecting  the 
request  to  be  absurd.  The  British  War  Office  could 
believe  the  river  Bronx  a  mighty  stream,  the  crossing 
of  which  was  full  of  strategic  possibilities.  As  for 


i.]  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   HISTORIANS  11 

the  American  people,  they  interested  Europe  about  as 
much  as  did  the  Boers  in  the  days  of  the  early  treks. 
Even  so  acute  an  observer  as  Talleyrand,  after  visiting 
the  United  States,  carried  away  with  him  only  a  gen- 
eral impression  of  rusticity  and  bad  manners.  When 
Napoleon  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, he  summed  up  his  opinion  with  a  shrug :  Sire,  ce 
sont  des  fiers  cochons  et  des  cochons  fiers.  Tocqueville 
alone  seems  to  have  viewed  the  nascent  nation  with 
the  eye  of  prescience.  For  the  rest,  petty  skirmishes 
with  Indians,  a  few  farmers  defending  a  rustic  bridge, 
and  a  somewhat  discordant  gathering  of  planters, 
country  lawyers,  and  drab-clad  tradesmen  held  few 
suggestions  of  the  picturesque  and,  to  most  minds, 
little  that  was  significant  to  the  student  of  politics 
and  institutional  history. 

There  were,  however,  other  themes,  American  in  a 
larger  sense,  which  contained  within  themselves  all 
the  elements  of  the  romantic,  while  they  closely  linked 
the  ambitions  of  old  Europe  with  the  fortunes  and  the 
future  of  the  New  World.  The  narration  of  these 
might  well  appeal  to  that  interest  which  the  more 
sober  annals  of  England  in  America  wholly  failed  to 
rouse.  There  was  the  story  of  New  France,  which  had 
for  its  background  a  setting  of  savage  nature,  while  in 
the  foreground  was  fought  out  the  struggle  between 
Englishmen  and  Frenchmen,  at  grips  in  a  feud  per- 
petuated through  the  centuries.  There  was  the  story 
of  Spanish  conquest  in  the  south,  —  a  true  romance  of 
chivalry,  which  had  not  yet  been  told  in  all  its  rich- 
ness of  detail.  To  choose  a  subject  of  this  sort,  and  to 
develop  it  in  a  fitting  way,  was  to  write  at  once  for 
the  Old  World  and  the  New.  The  task  demanded 


12  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT        [CHAP  i. 

scholarship,  and  presented  formidable  difficulties.  The 
chief  sources  of  information  were  to  be  found  in 
foreign  lands.  To  secure  them  needed  wealth.  To 
compare  and  analyse  and  sift  them  demanded  critical 
judgment  of  a  high  order.  And  something  more  was 
needed,  —  a  capacity  for  artistic  presentation.  When 
both  these  gifts  were  found  united  in  a  single  mind, 
historical  writing  in  New  England  had  passed  beyond 
the  confines  of  its  early  crudeness  and  had  reached 
the  stage  where  it  claimed  rank  as  lasting  literature. 
Rightly  viewed,  the  name  of  William  Hickling  Pres- 
cott  is  something  more  than  a  mere  landmark  in  the 
field  of  historical  composition.  It  signalises  the  begin- 
ning of  a  richer  growth  in  New  England  letters,  —  the 
coming  of  a  time  when  the  barriers  of  a  Puritan  scho- 
lasticism were  broken  down.  Prescott  is  not  merely 
the  continuator  of  Sparks.  He  is  the  precursor  of 
Hawthorne  and  Parkman  and  Lowell.  He  takes 
high  rank  among  American  historians;  but  he  is 
enrolled  as  well  in  a  still  more  illustrious  group  by 
virtue  of  his  literary  fame. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY    YEARS 

To  the  native-born  New  Englander  the  name  of  Pres- 
cott  has,  for  more  than  a  century,  possessed  associa- 
tions that  give  to  it  the  stamp  of  genuine  distinction. 
Those  who  have  borne  it  have  belonged  of  right  to  the 
true  patriciate  of  their  Commonwealth.  The  Prescotts 
were  from  the  first  a  fighting  race,  and  their  men  were 
also  men  of  mind ;  and,  according  to  the  times  in 
which  they  lived,  they  displayed  one  or  the  other 
characteristic  in  a  very  marked  degree.  The  pioneer 
among  them  011  American  soil  was  John  Prescott,  a 
burly  Puritan  soldier  who  had  fought  under  Cromwell, 
and  who  loved  danger  for  its  own  sake.  He  came 
from  Lancashire  to  Massachusetts  about  twenty  years 
after  the  landing  of  the  Mayflower,  and  at  once  pushed 
off  into  the  unbroken  wilderness  to  mark  out  a  large 
plantation  for  himself  in  what  is  now  the  town  of 
Lancaster.  A  half-verified  tradition  describes  him  as 
having  brought  with  him  a  coat  of  mail  and  a  steel 
helmet,  glittering  in  which  he  often  terrified  maraud- 
ing Indians  who  ventured  near  his  lands.  His  son 
and  grandson  and  his  three  great-grandsons  all  served 
as  officers  in  the  military  forces  of  Massachusetts  ;  and 
among  the  last  was  Colonel  William  Prescott,  who 
commanded  the  American  troops  at  Bunker  Hill. 
Later,  he  served  under  the  eye  of  Washington,  who 

13 


14  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

personally  commended  him  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island ;  and  he  took  part  in  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne  at 
Saratoga  —  a  success  which  brought  the  arms  of  France 
to  the  support  of  the  American  cause. 

In  times  of  peace  as  well,  the  Prescotts  were  men 
of  light  and  leading.  Their  names  are  found  upon 
the  rolls  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Court,  of  the 
Governor's  Council  in  colonial  days,  of  the  Continen- 
tal Congress,  and  of  the  State  judiciary.  One  of  them, 
Oliver  Prescott,  a  brother  of  the  Revolutionary  war- 
rior, who  had  been  bred  as  a  physician,  made  some 
elaborate  researches  on  the  subject  of  that  curious 
drug,  ergot,  and  embodied  his  results  in  a  paper  of 
such  value  as  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  profession  in 
Europe.  It  was  translated  into  French  and  German, 
and  was  included  in  the  Dictionnaire  des  Sciences  Medi- 
cales — an  unusual  compliment  for  an  American  of  those 
days  to  receive.  Most  eminent  of  all  the  Prescotts  in 
civil  life,  however,  before  the  historian  won  his  fame, 
was  William  Prescott,  —  the  family  names  were  contin- 
ually repeated,  —  whose  career  was  remarkable  for  its 
distinction,  and  whose  character  is  significant  because 
of  its  influence  upon  his  illustrious  son.  William  Pres- 
cott was  born  in  1762,  and,  after  a  most  careful  train- 
ing, entered  Harvard,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1783.  Admitted  to  the  bar,  he  won  high  rank  in 
his  profession,  twice  receiving  and  twice  declining  an 
appointment  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  His 
widely  recognised  ability  brought  him  wealth,  so  that 
he  lived  in  liberal  fashion,  in  a  home  whose  generous 
appointments  and  cultivated  ease  created  an  atmos- 
phere that  was  rare  indeed  in  those  early  days,  when 
narrow  means  and  a  crude  provincialism  combined  to 


ii.]  EA&LY  YEARS  15 

make  New  England  life  unlovely.  Prescott  was  not 
only  an  able  lawyer,  the  worthy  compeer  of  Dexter, 
Otis,  and  Webster  —  he  was  a  scholar  by  instinct, 
widely  read,  thoughtful,  and  liberal-minded  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word.  His  intellectual  conflicts  with 
such  professional  antagonists  as  have  just  been  named 
gave  him  mental  flexibility  and  a  delightful  sanity ; 
and  though  in  temperament  he  was  naturally  of  a 
serious  turn,  he  had  both  pungency  and  humour  at 
his  command.  No  more  ideal  father  could  be  imag- 
ined for  a  brilliant  son ;  for  he  was  affectionate,  gener- 
ous, and  sympathetic,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  world, 
and  a  happy  absence  of  Puritan  austerity.  He  had, 
moreover,  the  very  great  good  fortune  to  love  and 
marry  a  woman  dowered  with  every  quality  that  can 
fill  a  house  with  sunshine.  This  was  Catherine  Hick- 
ling,  the  daughter  of  a  prosperous  Boston  merchant, 
afterward  American  consul  in  the  Azores.  As  a  girl, 
and  indeed  all  through  her  long  and  happy  life,  she 
was  the  very  spirit  of  healthful,  normal  womanhood, 
—  full  of  an  irrepressible  and  infectious  gayety,  a 
miracle  of  buoyant  life,  charming  in  manner,  unselfish, 
helpful,  and  showing  in  her  every  act  and  thought  the 
promptings  of  a  beautiful  and  spotless  soul. 

It  was  of  this  admirably  mated  pair  that  William 
Hickling  Prescott,  their  second  son,  was  born,  at  Salem, 
on  the  4th  of  May,  1796.  The  elder  Prescott  had 
not  yet  acquired  the  ample  fortune  which  he  after- 
ward possessed ;  yet  even  then  his  home  was  that  of 
a  man  of  easy  circumstances,  —  one  of  those  big,  com- 
fortable, New  England  houses,  picturesquely  situated 
amid  historic  surroundings.1  Here  young  Prescott 

1  This  house  was  long  ago  demolished.  Its  site  is  now  occupied 
by  Plummer  Hall,  containing  a  public  library. 


16  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

spent  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  life  under  his 
mother's  affectionate  care,  and  here  began  his  educa- 
tion, first  at  a  sort  of  dame  school,  kept  by  a  kindly 
maiden  lady,  Miss  Mehitable  Higginson,  and  then, 
from  about  the  age  of  seven,  under  the  more  formal 
instruction  of  an  excellent  teacher,  Mr.  Jacob  Newman 
Knapp,  quaintly  known  as  "Master  Knapp."  It  was 
here  that  he  began  to  reveal  certain  definite  and  very 
significant  traits  of  character.  The  record  of  them  is 
interesting,  for  it  shows  that,  but  for  the  accident 
which  subsequently  altered  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life, 
he  might  have  grown  up  into  a  far  from  admirable 
man,  even  had  he  escaped  moral  shipwreck.  Many  of 
his  natural  traits,  indeed,  were  of  the  kind  that  need 
restraint  to  make  them  safe  to  their  possessor,  and  in 
these  early  years  restraint  was  largely  lacking  in  the 
life  of  the  young  Prescott,  who,  it  may  frankly  be 
admitted,  was  badly  spoiled.  His  father,  preoccupied 
in  his  legal  duties,  left  him  in  great  part  to  his  mother's 
care,  and  his  mother,  who  adored  him  for  his  clever- 
ness and  good  looks,  could  not  bear  to  check  him  in 
the  smallest  of  his  caprices.  He  was,  indeed,  pecul- 
iarly her  own,  since  from  her  he  had  inherited  so 
much.  By  virtue  of  his  natural  gifts,  he  was,  no 
doubt,  a  most  attractive  boy.  Handsome,  like  his 
father,  he  had  his  mother's  vivacity  and  high  spirits 
almost  in  excess.  Quick  of  mind,  imaginative,  full  of 
eager  curiosity,  and  with  a  tenacious  memory,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  her  pride  in  him  was  great,  and  that  her 
mothering  heart  went  out  to  him  in  unconscious  recog- 
nition of  a  kindred  temperament.  But  his  school 
companions,  and  even  his  elders,  often  found  these 
ebullient  spirits  of  his  by  no  means  so  delightful. 


IT.]  EARLY  YEARS  17 

The  easy-going  indulgence  which  he  met  at  home,  and 
very  likely  also  the  recognised  position  of  his  father 
in  that  small  community,  combined  to  make  young 
Prescott  wilful  and  self-confident  and  something  of 
an  enfant  terrible.  He  was  allowed  to  say  precisely 
what  he  thought,  and  he  did  invariably  say  it  on  all 
occasions  and  to  persons  of  every  age.  In  fact,  he 
acquired  a  somewhat  unenviable  reputation  for  rude- 
ness, while  his  high  spirits  prompted  him  to  contrive 
all  sorts  of  practical  jokes  —  a  form  of  humour  which 
seldom  tends  to  make  one  popular.  Moreover,  though 
well-grown  for  his  age,  he  had  a  distaste  for  physical 
exertion,  and  took  little  or  no  part  in  active  outdoor 
games.  Naturally,  therefore,  he  was  not  particularly 
liked  by  his  school  companions,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  attained  no  special  rank  in  the  schoolroom. 
Although  he  was  quick  at  learning,  he  contented  him- 
self with  satisfying  the  minimum  of  what  was  required 
—  a  trait  that  remained  very  characteristic  of  him  for 
a  long  time.  Of  course,  there  is  no  particular  signifi- 
cance in  the  general  statement  that  a  boy  of  twelve 
was  rude,  mischievous,  physically. indolent,  and  averse 
to  study.  Yet  in  Prescott's  case  these  qualities  were 
somewhat  later  developed  at  a  critical  period  of  his 
life,  and  might  have  spoiled  a  naturally  fine  character 
had  they  not  been  ultimately  checked  and  controlled 
by  the  memorable  accident  which  befell  him  a  few 
years  afterward. 

In  1803,  the  elder  Prescott  suffered  from  a  hem- 
orrhage from  the  lungs  which  compelled  him  for  a 
time  to  give  up  many  of  his  professional  activities. 
Five  years  after  this  he  removed  his  home  to  Boston, 
where  the  practice  of  his  profession  would  be  less 


18  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

burdensome,  and  where,  as  it  turned  out,  his  income 
was  very  largely  increased.  The  change  was  fortu- 
nate both  for  him  and  for  his  son ;  since,  in  a  larger 
community,  the  boy  came  to  be  less  impressed  with  his 
own  importance,  and  also  fell  under  an  influence  far 
more  stimulating  than  could  ever  have  been  exerted  by 
a  village  schoolmaster.  The  rector  of  Trinity  Church 
in  Boston,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  S.  Gardiner,  was  a  gentle- 
man of  exceptional  cultivation.  As  a  young  man  he  had 
been  well  trained  in  England  under  the  learned  Dr. 
Samuel  Parr,  a  Latinist  of  the  Ciceronian  school.  He 
was,  besides,  a  man  possessing  many  genial  and  very 
human  qualities,  so  that  all  who  knew  him  felt  his 
personal  fascination  to  a  rare  degree.  He  had  at  one 
time  been  the  master  of  a  classical  school  in  Boston  and 
had  met  with  much  success ;  but  his  clerical  duties 
had  obliged  him  to  give  up  this  occupation.  There- 
after, he  taught  only  a  small  number  of  boys,  the  sons 
of  intimate  friends  in  whom  he  took  a  special  and 
personal  interest.  His  methods  with  them  were  not 
at  all  those  of  a  typical  schoolmaster.  He  received 
his  little  classes  in  the  library  of  his  home,  and  taught 
them,  in  a  most  informal  fashion,  English,  Greek,  and 
Latin.  He  resembled,  indeed,  one  of  those  ripe 
scholars  of  the  Eenaissance  who  taught  for  the  pure 
love  of  imparting  knowledge.  Much  of  his  instruction 
was  conveyed  orally  rather  than  through  the  medium 
of  text-books ;  and  his  easy  talk,  flowing  from  a  full 
mind,  gave  interest  and  richness  to  his  favourite  sub- 
jects. Such  teaching  as  this  is  always  rare,  and  it  was 
peculiarly  so  in  that  age  of  formalism.  To  the  privi- 
lege of  Dr.  Gardiner's  instruction,  young  Prescott  was 
admitted,  and  from  it  he  derived  not  only  a  correct 


ji.]  EARLY  YEARS  19 

feeling  for  English  style,  but  a  genuine  love  of  classical 
study,  which  remained  with  him  throughout  his  life. 
It  may  be  said  here  that  he  never  at  any  time  felt  an 
interest  in  mathematics  or  the  natural  sciences.  His 
cast  of  mind  was  naturally  humanistic;  and  now, 
through  the  influence  of  an  accomplished  teacher,  he 
came  to  know  the  meaning  and  the  beauty  of  the 
classical  tradition. 

Under  Gardiner,  Prescott's  indifference  to  study 
disappeared,  and  he  applied  himself  so  well  that  he 
was  rapidly  advanced  from  elementary  reading  to  the 
study  of  authors  so  difficult  as  ^Eschylus.  His  biogra- 
pher, Mr.  Ticknor,  who  was  his  fellow-pupil  at  this 
time,  has  left  us  some  interesting  notes  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  Prescott's  literary  preferences.  It  appears  that 
he  enjoyed  Sophocles,  while  Horace  "  interested  and 
excited  him  beyond  his  years."  The  pessimism  of 
Juvenal  he  disliked,  and  the  crabbed  verse  of  Persius 
he  utterly  refused  to  read.  Under  private  teachers  he 
studied  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  —  a  rather  un- 
usual thing  for  boys  at  that  time,  —  and  he  reluctantly 
acquired  what  he  regarded  as  the  irreducible  minimum 
of  mathematics.  It  was  decided  that  he  should  be 
fitted  to  enter  the  Sophomore  Class  in  Harvard,  and  to 
this  end  he  devoted  his  mental  energies.  Like  most  boys, 
he  worked  hardest  upon  those  studies  which  related  to 
his  college  examination,  viewing  others  as  more  or  less 
superfluous.  He  did,  however,  a  good  deal  of  miscella- 
neous reading,  opportunities  for  which  he  found  in  the 
Boston  Athenaeum.  This  institution  had  been  opened 
but  a  short  time  before,  and  its  own  collection  of  books, 
which  to-day  numbers  more  than  two  hundred  thou- 
sand, was  rather  meagre  j  but  in  it  had  been  deposited 


20  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CH^P. 

some  ten  thousand  volumes,  constituting  the  private 
library  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  then  holding 
the  post  of  American  Minister  to  Russia.  At  a  time 
when  book-shops  were  few,  and  when  books  were  im- 
ported from  England  with  much  difficulty  and  expense, 
these  ten  thousand  volumes  seemed  an  enormous  treas- 
ure-house of  good  reading.  Prescott  browsed  through 
the  books  after  the  fashion  of  a  clever  boy,  picking  out 
what  took  his  fancy  and  neglecting  everything  that 
seemed  at  all  uninteresting.  Yet  this  omnivorous 
reading  stimulated  his  love  of  letters  and  gave  to  him 
a  larger  range  of  vision  than  at  that  time  he  could  prob- 
ably have  acquired  in  any  other  way.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  note  the  fact  that  his  preference  was  for  old 
romances  —  the  more  extravagant  the  better  —  and 
for  tales  of  wild  and  lawless  adventure.  An  especial 
favourite  with  him  was  the  romance  of  Amadis  de 
Gaule,  which  he  found  in  Southey's  somewhat  pedes- 
trian translation,  and  which  appealed  intensely  to 
Prescott's  imagination  and  his  love  of  the  fantastic. 

His  other  occupations  were  decidedly  significant. 
His  most  intimate  friend  at  this  time  was  William 
Gardiner,  his  preceptor's  son ;  and  the  two  boys  were 
absolutely  at  one  in  their  tastes  and  amusements.  Both 
of  them  were  full  of  mischief,  and  both  were  irrepressi- 
bly  boisterous,  playing  all  sorts  of  tricks  at  evening 
in  the  streets,  firing  off  pistols,  and  in  general  caus- 
ing a  good  deal  of  annoyance  to  the  sober  citizens  of 
Boston.  In  this  they  were  like  any  other  healthy 
boys,  —  full  of  animal  spirits  and  looking  for  "  fun  " 
without  any  especial  sense  of  responsibility.  Some- 
thing else,  however,  is  recorded  of  them  which  seems 
to  have  a  real  importance,  as  revealing  in  Prescott,  at 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  21 

least,  some  of  those  mental  characteristics  which  in 
his  after  life  were  to  find  expression  in  his  serious 
work. 

The  period  was  one  when  the  thoughts  of  all  men 
were  turned  to  the  Napoleonic  wars.  The  French  and 
English  were  at  grips  in  Spain  for  the  possession  of 
the  Peninsula.  Wellington  had  landed  in  Portugal 
and,  marching  into  Spain,  had  flung  down  the  gage  of 
battle,  which  was  taken  up  by  Soult,  Massena,  and 
Victor,  in  the  absence  of  their  mighty  chief.  The 
American  newspapers  were  filled  with  long,  though 
belated,  accounts  of  the  brilliant  fighting  at  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  Almeida,  and  Badajoz ;  and  these  narratives 
fired  the  imagination  of  Prescott,  whose  eagerness  his 
companion  found  infectious,  so  that  the  two  began  to 
play  at  battles ;  not  after  the  usual  fashion  of  boys, 
but  in  a  manner  recalling  the  Kriegspiel  of  the  mili- 
tary schools  of  modern  Germany.  Pieces  of  paper 
were  carefully  cut  into  shapes  which  would  serve  to 
designate  the  difference  between  cavalry,  infantry, 
and  artillery;  and  with  these  bits  of  paper  the  dis- 
position and  manoeuvring  of  armies  were  indicated, 
so  as  to  make  clear,  in  a  rough  way,  the  tactics  of  the 
opposing  commanders.  Not  alone  were  the  Napoleonic 
battles  thus  depicted,  but  also  the  great  contests  of 
which  the  boys  had  read  or  heard  at  school,  —  Ther- 
mopylae, Marathon,  Leuctra,  Cannae,  and  Pharsalus. 
Some  pieces  of  old  armour,  unearthed  among  the 
rubbish  of  the  Athenaeum,  enabled  the  boys  to  mimic 
in  their  play  the  combats  of  Amadis  and  the  knights 
with  whom  he  fought. 

Side  by  side  with  these  amusements  there  was 
another  which  curiously  supplemented  it.  As  Pres- 


22  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

cott  and  his  friend  went  through  the  streets  on  their 
way  to  school,  they  made  a  practice  of  inventing  im- 
promptu stories,  which  they  told  each  other  in  alter- 
nation. If  the  story  was  unfinished  when  they  arrived 
at  school,  it  would  be  resumed  on  their  way  home 
and  continued  until  it  reached  its  end.  It  was  here 
that  Prescott's  miscellaneous  reading  stood  him  in 
good  stead.  His  mind  was  full  of  the  romances  and 
histories  that  he  had  read ;  and  his  quick  invention 
and  lively  imagination  enabled  him  to  piece  together 
the  romantic  bits  which  he  remembered,  and  to  give 
them  some  sort  of  consistency  and  form.  Ticknor 
attaches  little  importance  either  to  Prescott' s  interest 
in  the  details  of  warfare  or  to  this  fondness  of  his  for 
improvised  narration.  Yet  it  is  difficult  not  to  see  in 
both  of  them  a  definite  bias ;  and  we  may  fairly  hold 
that  the  boy's  taste  for  battles,  coupled  with  his  love 
of  picturesque  description,  foreshadowed,  even  in  these 
early  years,  the  qualities  which  were  to  bring  him  last- 
ing fame. 

All  these  boyish  amusements,  however,  came  to  an 
end  when,  in  August,  1811,  Prescott  presented  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  admission  to  Harvard.  Harvard 
was  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
Thornton  Kirkland,  who  had  been  installed  in  office 
the  year  before  Prescott  entered  college.  President 
Kirkland  was  the  first  of  Harvard's  really  eminent 
presidents.1  Under  his  rule  there  definitely  began  that 
slow  but  steady  evolution,  which  was,  in  the  end,  to 
transform  the  small  provincial  college  into  a  great  and 
splendid  university.  Kirkland  was  an  earlier  Eliot, 

1  A  very  interesting  appreciation  of  President  Kirkland  is  given 
by  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody  in  his  Harvard  Reminiscences  (Boston,  1888). 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  23 

and  some  of  his  views  seemed  as  radical  to  his  col- 
leagues as  did  those  of  Eliot  in  1869.  Lowell  has  said 
of  him,  somewhat  unjustly :  "  He  was  a  man  of  genius, 
but  of  genius  that  evaded  utilisation."  It  is  fairer  to 
suppose  that,  if  he  did  not  accomplish  all  that  he 
desired  and  attempted,  this  was  because  the  time  was 
not  yet  ripe  for  radical  innovations.  He  did  secure 
large  benefactions  to  the  University,  the  creation  of 
new  professorships  on  endowed  foundations,  and  the 
establishment  of  three  professional  schools.  President 
Kirkland,  in  reality,  stood  between  the  old  order  and 
the  new,  with  his  face  set  toward  the  future,  but 
retaining  still  some  of  the  best  traditions  of  the  small 
college  of  the  past.  It  is  told  of  him  that  he  knew 
every  student  by  name,  and  took  a  very  genuine  in- 
terest in  all  of  them,  helping  them  in  many  quiet, 
tactful  ways,  so  that  more  than  one  distinguished  man 
in  later  life  declared  that,  but  for  the  thoughtful  and 
unsolicited  kindness  of  Dr.  Kirkland,  he  would  have 
been  forced  to  abandon  his  college  life  in  debt  and  in 
despair.  Kirkland  was  a  man  of  striking  personal 
presence,  and  could  assume  a  bearing  of  such  im- 
pressive dignity  as  to  verge  on  the  majestic,  as  when 
he  officially  received  Lafayette  in  front  of  University 
Hall  and  presented  the  assembled  students  to  the 
nation's  guest.  The  faculty  over  which  he  presided 
contained  at  that  time  no  teacher  of  enduring  reputa- 
tion,1 so  that  whatever  personal  influence  was  exerted 
upon  Prescott  by  his  instructors  must  have  come  chiefly 
from  such  intercourse  as  he  had  with  Dr.  Kirkland. 

1  John  Quincy  Adams  was  titularly  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  but 
he  had  been  absent  for  several  years  on  a  diplomatic  mission  in 
Europe. 


24  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  just  how  much,  of  an  ordeal 
an  entrance  examination  at  Harvard  was  at  the  time 
when  Prescott  came  up  as  a  candidate  for  admission. 
The  subjects  were  very  few  in  number,  and  would 
appear  far  from  formidable  to  a  modem  Freshman. 
Dalzel's  Collectanea  Grceca  Minora,  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, Vergil,  Sallust,  and  several  selected  orations  of 
Cicero  represented,  with  the  Greek  and  Latin  gram- 
mars, the  classical  requirements  which  constituted, 
indeed,  almost  the  entire  test,  since  the  only  other 
subjects  were  arithmetic,  "  so  for  as  the  rule  of  three," 
and  a  general  knowledge  of  geography.  The  curricu- 
lum of  the  College,  while  Prescott  was  a  member  of 
it,  was  meagre  enough  when  compared  with  what  is 
offered  at  the  present  time.  The  classical  languages 
occupied  most  of  the  students'  attention.  Sallust, 
Livy,  Horace,  and  one  of  Cicero's  rhetorical  treatises 
made  up  the  principal  work  in  Latin.  Xenophon's 
Anabasis,  Homer,  and  some  desultory  selections  from 
other  authors  were  supposed  to  give  a  sufficient  know- 
ledge of  Greek  literature.  The  Freshmen  completed 
the  study  of  arithmetic,  and  the  Sophomores  did 
something  in  algebra  and  geometry.  Other  subjects 
of  study  were  rhetoric,  declamation,  a  modicum  of 
history,  and  also  logic,  metaphysics,  and  ethics.  The 
ecclesiastical  hold  upon  the  College  was  seen  in  the 
inclusion  of  a  lecture  course  on  "  some  topic  of  posi- 
tive or  controversial  divinity,"  in  an  examination  on 
Doddridge's  Lectures,  in  the  reading  of  the  Greek 
Testament,  and  in  a  two  years'  course  in  Hebrew  for 
Sophomores  and  Freshmen.  Indeed,  Hebrew  was 
regarded  as  so  important  that  a  "  Hebrew  part "  was 
included  in  every  commencement  programme  until 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  25 

1817  —  three  years  after  Prescott's  graduation.  In 
place  of  this  language,  however,  while  Prescott  was  in 
college,  students  might  substitute  a  course  in  French 
given  by  a  tutor ;  for  as  yet  no  regular  chair  of  modern 
languages  had  been  founded  in  the  University.  The 
natural  sciences  received  practically  no  attention, 
although,  in  1805,  a  chair  of  natural  history  had  been 
endowed  by  subscription.  An  old  graduate  of  Har- 
vard has  recorded  the  fact  that  chemistry  in  those  days 
was  regarded  very  much  as  we  now  look  upon  alchemy  ; 
and  that,  on  its  practical  side,  it  was  held  to  be  sim- 
ply an  adjunct  to  the  apothecary's  profession.  A  few 
years  later,  and  the  Harvard  faculty  contained  such 
eminent  men  as  Josiah  Quincy,  Judge  Joseph  Story, 
Benjamin  Peirce,  the  mathematician,  George  Ticknor, 
and  Edward  Everett,  and  the  opportunities  for  serious 
study  were  broadened  out  immensely.  But  while  Pres- 
cott was  an  undergraduate,  the  curriculum  had  less 
variety  and  range  than  that  of  any  well-equipped  high 
school  of  the  present  day. 

A  letter  written  by  Prescott  on  August  23d,  the 
day  after  he  had  passed  through  the  ordeal  of  examina- 
tion, is  particularly  interesting.  It  gives,  in  the  first 
place,  a  notion  of  the  quaint  simplicity  which  then 
characterised  the  academic  procedure  of  the  oldest  of 
American  universities ;  and  it  also  brings  us  into 
rather  intimate  touch  with  Prescott  himself  as  a 
youth  of  fifteen.  At  that  time  a  great  deal  of  the 
eighteenth-century  formality  survived  in  the  inter- 
course between  fathers  and  their  sons ;  and  especially 
in  the  letters  which  passed  between  them  was  there 
usually  to  be  found  a  degree  of  stiffness  and  restraint 
both  in  feeling  and  expression.  Yet  this  letter  of 


26  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

Prescott's  might  have  been  written  yesterday  by  an 
American  youth  of  the  present  time,  so  easy  and 
assured  is  it,  and  indeed,  for  the  most  part,  so  mature. 
It  might  have  been  written  also  to  one  of  his  own  age, 
and  there  is  something  deliciously  naive  in  its  revela- 
tion of  Prescott's  approbativeness.  The  boy  evidently 
thought  very  well  of  himself,  and  was  not  at  all  averse 
to  fishing  for  a  casual  compliment  from  others.  The 
letter  is  given  in  full  by  Ticknor,  but  what  is  here 
quoted  contains  all  that  is  important :  — 

"BOSTON,  August  23rd. 

"  DEAR  FATHER  :  —  I  now  write  you  a  few  lines  to  inform 
you  of  my  fate.  Yesterday  at  eight  o'clock  I  was  ordered 
to  the  President's  and  there,  together  with  a  Carolinian,  Mid- 
dleton,  was  examined  for  Sophomore.  When  we  were  first 
ushered  into  their  presence,  they  looked  like  so  many  judges 
of  the  Inquisition.  We  were  ordered  down  into  the  parlour, 
almost  frightened  out  of  our  wits,  to  be  examined  by  each 
separately ;  but  we  soon  found  them  quite  a  pleasant  sort  of 
chaps.  The  President  sent  us  down  a  good  dish  of  pears, 
and  treated  us  very  much  like  gentlemen.  It  was  not  ended 
in  the  morning;  but  we  returned  in  the  afternoon  when 
Professor  Ware  [the  Hollis  Professor  of  Divinity]  examined 
us  in  Grotius'De  Veritate.  We  found  him  very  good-natured ; 
for  I  happened  to  ask  him  a  question  in  theology,  which 
made  him  laugh  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  cover  his  face 
with  his  hand.  At  half  past  three  our  fate  was  decided  and 
we  were  declared  <  Sophomores  of  Harvard  University.' 

"  As  you  would  like  to  know  how  I  appeared,  I  will  give 
you  the  conversation  verbatim  with  Mr.  Frisbie  when  I  went 
to  see  him  after  the  examination.  I  asked  him, « Did  1  appear 
well  in  my  examination?'  Answer.  'Yes.'  Question. 
'  Did  I  appear  very  well,  sir  ? '  Answer.  '  Why  are  you  so 
particular,  young  man  ?  Yes,  you  did  yourself  a  great  deal 
of  credit.'  I  feel  today  twenty  pounds  lighter  than  I  did 
yesterday.  .  .  .  Love  to  mother,  whose  affectionate  son  I 
remain, 

HICKLING  PRESCOTT." 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  27 

Prescott  entered  upon  his  college  life  in  the  autumn 
of  this  same  year  (1811).  We  find  that  many  of  those 
traits  which  he  had  exhibited  in  his  early  school  days 
were  now  accentuated  rather  sharply.  He  was  fond 
of  such  studies  as  appealed  to  his  instinctive  tastes. 
English  literature  and  the  literatures  of  Greece  and 
Rome  he  studied  willingly  because  he  liked  them  and 
not  because  he  was  ambitious  to  gain  high  rank  in  the 
University.  To  this  he  was  more  or  less  indifferent, 
and,  therefore,  gave  as  little  attention  as  possible  to 
such  subjects  as  mathematics,  logic,  the  natural  sciences, 
philosophy,  and  metaphysics,  without  which,  of  course, 
he  could  not  hope  to  win  university  honours.  Never- 
theless, he  disliked  to  be  rated  below  the  average  of 
his  companions,  and,  therefore,  he  was  careful  not  to 
fall  beneath  a  certain  rather  moderate  standard  of 
excellence.  He  seems,  indeed,  to  have  adopted  the 
Horatian  aurea  mediocritas  as  his  motto ;  and  the  easy- 
going, self-indulgent  philosophy  of  Horace  he  made 
for  the  time  his  own.  In  fact,  the  ideal  which  he 
set  before  himself  was  the  life  of  a  gentleman  in  the 
traditional  English  meaning  of  that  word ;  and  it  was 
a  gentleman's  education  and  nothing  more  which  he 
desired  to  attain.  To  be  socially  agreeable,  courteous, 
and  imbued  with  a  liberal  culture,  seemed  to  him  a 
sufficient  end  for  his  ambition.  His  father  was  wealthy 
and  generous.  He  was  himself  extremely  fond  of  the 
good  things  of  life.  He  made  friends  readily,  and  had 
a  very  large  share  of  personal  attractiveness.  Under 
the  circumstances,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  his 
college  life  was  marked  by  a  pleasant,  well-bred  hedo- 
nism rather  than  by  the  austerity  of  the  true  New  Eng- 
land temperament.  The  Prescotts  as  a  family  had 


28  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

some  time  before  slipped  away  from  the  clutch  of 
Puritanism  and  had  accepted  the  mild  and  elastic 
creed  of  Channing,  which,  in  its  tolerant  view  of  life, 
had  more  than  a  passing  likeness  to  Episcopalianism. 
Prescott  was  still  running  over  with  youthful  spirits,  his 
position  was  an  assured  one,  his  means  were  ample,  and 
his  love  of  pleasure  very  much  in  evidence.  We  cannot 
wonder,  then,  if  we  find  that  in  the  early  part  of  his  uni- 
versity career  he  slipped  into  a  sort  of  life  which  was 
probably  less  commendable  than  his  cautious  biogra- 
phers are  willing  to  admit.  Mr.  Ticknor's  very  guarded 
intimations  seem  to  imply  in  Prescott  a  considerable 
laxity  of  conduct ;  and  it  is  not  unfair  to  read  between 
the  lines  of  what  he  has  written  and  there  find  un- 
willing but  undeniable  testimony.  Thus  Ticknor 
remarks  that  Prescott  "  was  always  able  to  stop  short 
of  what  he  deemed  flagrant  excesses  and  to  keep  within 
the  limits,  though  rather  loose  ones,  which  he  had 
prescribed  to  himself.  His  standard  for  the  character 
of  a  gentleman  varied,  no  doubt,  at  this  period,  and 
sometimes  was  not  so  high  on  the  score  of  morals  as 
it  should  have  been."  Prescott  is  also  described  as 
never  having  passed  the  world's  line  of  honour,  but 
as  having  been  willing  to  run  exceedingly  close  to  it. 
"He  pardoned  himself  too  easily  for  his  manifold 
neglect  and  breaches  of  the  compacts  he  had  made 
with  his  conscience ;  but  there  was  repentance  at  the 
bottom  of  all."  It  is  rather  grudgingly  admitted  also 
that  "the  early  part  of  his  college  career,  when  for 
the  first  time  he  left  the  too  gentle  restraints  of  his 
father's  house,  .  .  .  was  the  most  dangerous  period  of 
his  life.  Upon  portions  of  it  he  afterwards  looked 
back  with  regret."  There  is  a  good  deal  of  significance, 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  29 

moreover,  in  some  sentences  which  Prescott  himself 
wrote,  long  afterwards,  of  the  temptations  which  assail 
a  youth  during  those  years  when  he  has  attained  to 
the  independence  of  a  man  but  while  he  is  still  swayed 
by  the  irresponsibility  of  a  boy.  There  seems  to  be  in 
these  sentences  a  touch  of  personal  reminiscence  and 
regret : — 

"  The  University,  that  little  world  of  itself  .  .  .  bounding 
the  visible  horizon  of  the  student  like  the  walls  of  a  monas- 
tery, still  leaves  within  him  scope  enough  for  all  the  sym- 
pathies and  the  passions  of  manhood.  ...  He  meets  with 
the  same  obstacles  to  success  as  in  the  world,  the  same  temp- 
tations to  idleness,  the  same  gilded  seductions,  but  without 
the  same  power  of  resistance.  For  in  this  morning  of  life 
his  passions  are  strongest ;  his  animal  nature  is  more  sensi- 
ble to  enjoyment;  his  reasoning  faculties  less  vigorous  and 
mature.  Happy  the  youth  who  in  this  stage  of  his  existence 
is  so  strong  in  his  principles  that  he  can  pass  through  the 
ordeal  without  faltering  or  failing,  on  whom  the  contact  of 
bad  companionship  has  left  no  stain  for  future  tears  to  wash 
away." 

Just  how  much  is  meant  by  this  reluctant  testimony 
can  only  be  conjectured.  It  is  not  unfair,  however,  to 
assume  that,  for  a  time,  Prescott's  diversions  were 
such  as  even  a  lenient  moralist  would  think  it  neces- 
sary to  condemn.  The  fondness  for  wine,  which  re- 
mained with  him  throughout  his  life,  makes  it  likely 
that  convival  excess  was  one  of  his  undergraduate 
follies ;  while  the  flutter  of  a  petticoat  may  at  times 
have  stirred  his  senses.  No  doubt  many  a  young  man 
in  his  college  days  has  plunged  far  deeper  into  dissipa- 
tion than  ever  Prescott  did  and  has  emerged  unscathed 
to  lead  a  useful  life.  Yet  in  Prescott's  case  there 
existed  a  peculiar  danger.  His  future  did  not  cal] 


30  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

upon  him  to  face  the  stern  realities  of  a  life  of  toil 
He  was  assured  of  a  fortune  ample  for  his  needs,  and 
therefore  his  easy-going,  pleasure-loving  disposition, 
his  boundless  popularity,  his  handsome  face,  his  exu- 
berant spirits,  and  his  very  moderate  ambition  might 
easily  have  combined  to  lead  him  down  the  primrose 
path  where  intellect  is  enervated  and  moral  fibre 
irremediably  sapped. 

One  dwells  upon  this  period  of  indolence  and  folly 
the  more  willingly,  because,  after  all,  it  reveals  to  us 
in  Prescott  those  pardonable  human  failings  which 
only  serve  to  make  his  character  more  comprehensible. 
Prescott's  eulogists  have  so  studiously  ignored  his 
weaknesses  as  to  leave  us  with  no  clear-cut  impression 
of  the  actual  man.  They  have  unwisely  smoothed 
away  so  much  and  have  extenuated  so  much  in  their 
halting  and  ambiguous  phrases,  as  to  create  a  picture 
of  which  the  outlines  are  far  too  faint.  Apparently, 
they  wish  to  draw  the  likeness  of  a  perfect  being,  and 
to  that  extent  they  have  made  the  subject  of  their 
encomiums  appear  unreal.  One  cannot  understand 
how  truly  lovable  the  actual  Prescott  was,  without 
reconstructing  him  in  such  a  way  as  to  let  his  faults 
appear  beside  his  virtues.  Moreover,  an  understand- 
ing of  the  perils  which  at  first  beset  him  is  needed  in 
order  to  make  clear  the  profound  importance  of  an  inci- 
dent which  sharply  called  a  halt  to  his  excesses  and,  by 
curbing  his  wilful  nature,  set  his  finer  qualities  in  the 
ascendant.  It  is  only  by  remembering  how  far  he 
might  have  fallen,  that  we  can  view  as  a  blessing 
in  disguise  the  blow  which  Fate  was  soon  to  deal 
him. 

In  the  second  (Junior)  year  of  his  college  life,  he 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  31 

was  dining  one  day  with  the  other  undergraduates  in 
the  Commons  Hall.  During  these  meals,  so  long  as 
any  college  officers  were  present,  decorum  usually 
reigned ;  but  when  the  dons  had  left  the  room,  the  stu- 
dents frequently  wound  up  by  what,  in  modern  student 
phrase,  would  be  described  as  "  rough-house."  There 
were  singing  and  shouting  and  frequently  some  bois- 
terous scuffling,  such  as  is  natural  among  a  lot  of 
healthy  young  barbarians.  On  this  particular  occa- 
sion, as  Prescott  was  leaving  the  hall,  he  heard  a 
sudden  outbreak  and  looked  around  to  learn  its  cause. 
Missiles  were  flying  about ;  and,  just  as  he  turned  his 
head,  a  large  hard  crust  of  bread  struck  him  squarely 
in  the  open  eye.  The  shock  was  great,  resembling  a 
concussion  of  the  brain,  and  Prescott  fell  unconscious. 
He  was  taken  to  his  father's  house,  where,  on  recover- 
ing consciousness,  he  evinced  extreme  prostration, 
with  nausea,  a  fluttering  pulse,  and  all  the  evidences 
of  physical  collapse.  So  weak  was  he  that  he  could 
not  even  sit  upright  in  his  bed.  For  several  weeks 
unbroken  rest  was  ordered,  so  that  nature,  aided  by 
a  vigorous  constitution,  might  repair  the  injury  which 
his  system  had  sustained.  When  he  returned  to 
Cambridge,  the  sight  of  the  injured  eye  (the  left  one) 
was  gone  forever.  Oddly  enough,  in  view  of  the 
severity  of  the  blow,  the  organ  was  not  disfigured,  and 
only  through  powerful  lenses  could  even  the  slightest 
difference  be  detected  between  it  and  the  unhurt  eye. 
Dr.  James  Jackson,  who  attended  Prescott  at  this 
time,  described  the  case  as  one  of  paralysis  of  the 
retina,  for  which  no  remedy  was  possible.  This  acci- 
dent, with  the  consequences  which  it  entailed,  was  to 
have  a  profound  effect  not  only  upon  the  whole  of 


82  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Prescott's  subsequent  career,  but  upon  his  character 
as  well.  His  affliction,  indeed,  is  inseparably  associ- 
ated with  his  work,  and  it  must  again  and  again  be 
referred  to,  both  because  it  was  continually  in  his 
thoughts  and  because  it  makes  the  record  of  his  lit- 
erary achievement  the  more  remarkable.  Incidentally, 
it  afforded  a  revelation  of  one  of  Preseott's  noblest 
traits,  —  his  magnanimity.  He  was  well  aware  of  the 
identity  of  the  person  to  whom  he  owed  this  physical 
calamity.  Yet,  knowing  as  he  did  that  the  whole 
thing  was  in  reality  an  accident,  he  let  it  be  supposed 
that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  the  person  and  that  the 
mishap  had  come  about  in  such  a  way  that  the  respon- 
sibility for  it  could  not  be  fixed.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  thing  had  been  done  unintentionally ;  yet  this  can- 
not excuse  its  perpetrator  for  never  expressing  to 
Prescott  his  regret  and  sympathy.  Years  afterwards, 
Prescott  spoke  of  this  man  to  Ticknor  in  the  kindest 
and  most  friendly  fashion,  and  once  he  was  able  to  con- 
fer on  him  a  signal  favour,  which  he  did  most  readily 
and  with  sincere  cordiality. 

Prescott  returned  to  the  University  in  a  mood  of 
seriousness,  which  showed  forth  the  qualities  inherited 
from  his  father.  Hitherto  he  had  been  essentially  his 
mother's  son,  with  all  her  gayety  and  mirthfulness 
and  joy  of  life.  Henceforth  he  was  to  exhibit  more 
and  more  the  strength  of  will  and  power  of  applica- 
tion which  had  made  his  father  so  honoured  and  so 
influential.  Not  that  he  let  his  grave  misfortune  cloud 
his  spirits.  He  had  still  the  use  of  his  uninjured  eye, 
and  he  had  recovered  from  his  temporary  physical 
prostration ;  but  he  now  went  about  his  work  in  a  dif- 
ferent spirit,  and  was  resolved  to  win  at  least  an  hon- 


ii.]  EARLY  YEARS  33 

curable  rank  for  scholarship.  In  the  classics  and  in 
English  he  studied  hard,  and  he  overcame  to  some 
extent  his  aversion  to  philosophy  and  logic.  Mathe- 
matics, however,  still  remained  the  bane  of  his  aca- 
demic existence.  For  a  time  he  used  to  memorise 
word  for  word  all  the  mathematical  demonstrations 
as  he  found  them  in  the  text-books,  without  the  slight- 
est comprehension  of  what  they  meant ;  and  his  re- 
markable memory  enabled  him  to  reproduce  them  in 
the  class  room,  so  that  the  professor  of  mathematics 
imagined  him  to  be  a  promising  disciple.  This  fact 
does  not  greatly  redound  to  the  acumen  of  the  pro- 
fessor nor  to  the  credit  of  his  class-room  methods, 
and  what  followed  gives  a  curious  notion  of  the  easy- 
going, system  which  then  prevailed.  Prescott  found 
the  continual  exertion  of  his  memory  a  good  deal  of 
a  bore.  To  his  candid  nature  it  also  savoured  of  de- 
ception. He,  therefore,  very  frankly  explained  to  the 
professor  the  secret  of  his  mathematical  facility.  He 
said  that,  if  required,  he  would  continue  to  memorise 
the  work,  but  that  he  knew  it  to  be  for  him  nothing 
but  a  waste  of  time,  and  he  asked,  with  much  naivett, 
that  he  might  be  allowed  to  use  his  leisure  to  better 
advantage.  This  most  ingenuous  request  mnst  have 
amused  the  gentleman  of  whom  it  was  made ;  but  it 
proved  to  be  effectual.  Prescott  was  required  to 
attend  all  the  mathematical  exercises  conscientiously, 
but  from  that  day  he  was  never  called  upon  to  recite. 
For  the  rest,  his  diligence  in  those  studies  which  he 
really  liked  won  him  the  respect  of  the  faculty  at 
large.  At  graduation  he  received  as  a  commencement 
honour  the  assignment  of  a  Latin  poem,  which  he  duly 
declaimed  to  a  crowded  audience  in  the  old  "  meeting- 


84  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

house"  at  Cambridge,  in  August,  1814.  This  poem 
was  in  Latin  elegiacs,  and  was  an  apostrophe  to  Hope 
(Ad  Spem),  of  which,  unfortunately,  no  copy  has  been 
preserved.  At  the  same  time,  Prescott  was  admitted 
to  membership  in  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  from  which  a 
single  blackball  was  sufficient  to  exclude  a  candidate. 
His  father  celebrated  these  double  honours  by  giving 
an  elaborate  dinner,  in  a  pavilion,  to  more  than  five 
hundred  of  the  family's  acquaintances. 

Prescott  had  now  to  make  his  choice  of  a  profession; 
for  to  a  New  Englander  of  those  days  every  man,  how- 
ever wealthy,  was  expected  to  have  a  definite  occupa- 
tion. Very  naturally  he  decided  upon  the  law,  and 
began  the  study  of  it  in  his  father's  office,  though  it 
was  evident  enough  from  the  first  that  to  his  taste  the 
tomes  of  Blackstone  made  no  very  strong  appeal.  He 
loved  rather  to  go  back  to  his  classical  reading  and  to 
enlarge  his  knowledge  of  modern  literature.  Indeed, 
his  legal  studies  were  treated  rather  cavalierly,  and  it 
is  certain  that  had  he  ever  been  admitted  to  the  bar, 
he  would  have  found  no  pleasure  in  the  routine  of  a 
lawyer's  practice.  Fate  once  more  intervened,  though, 
as  before,  in  an  unpleasant  guise.  In  January,  1815, 
a  painful  inflammation  appeared  in  his  right  eye  — 
the  one  that  had  not  been  injured.  This  inflamma- 
tion increased  so  rapidly  as  to  leave  Prescott  for  the 
time  completely  blind.  Nor  was  the  disorder  merely 
local.  A  fever  set  in  with  a  high  pulse  and  a  general 
disturbance  of  the  system.  Prescott's  suffering  was 
intense  for  several  days ;  and  at  the  end  of  a  week, 
when  the  local  inflammation  had  passed  away,  the 
retina  of  the  right  eye  was  found  to  be  so  seriously 
affected  as  to  threaten  a  permanent  loss  of  sight. 


ii.}  EARLY  YEARS  3S 

At  the  same  time,  symptoms  of  acute  rheumatism 
appeared  in  the  knee-joints  and  in  the  neck.  For 
several  months  the  patient's  condition  was  pitiable. 
Again  and  again  there  was  a  recurrence  of  the  in- 
flammation in  the  eye,  alternating  with  the  rheumatic 
symptoms,  so  that  for  sixteen  weeks  Prescott  was 
unable  to  leave  his  room,  which  had  to  be  darkened  al- 
most into  blackness.  Medical  skill  availed  very  little, 
and  no  doubt  the  copious  blood-letting  which  was 
demanded  by  the  practice  of  that  time  served  only 
to  deplete  the  patient's  strength.  Through  all  theso 
weary  months,  however,  Prescott  bore  his  sufferings 
with  indomitable  courage,  and  to  those  friends  of  h  is 
who  groped  their  way  through  the  darkness  to  7  is 
bedside  he  was  always  cheerful,  animated,  and  e'.en 
gay,  talking  very  little  of  his  personal  affliction  raid 
showing  a  hearty  interest  in  the  concerns  of  oth<  .rs. 
When  autumn  came  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
take  a  sea  voyage,  partly  to  invigorate  his  constitu- 
tion and  partly  to  enable  him  to  consult  the  most 
eminent  specialists  of  France  and  England.  First  of 
all,  however,  he  planned  to  visit  his  grandfather,  Mr. 
Thomas  Hickling,  who,  as  has  been  already  mentioned, 
was  American  consul  at  the  island  of  St.  Michael's 
in  the  Azores,  where  it  was  thought  the  mildness  of 
the  climate  might  prove  beneficial. 

Prescott  set  out,  on  September  26th  of  the  same  year 
(1815),  in  one  of  the  small  sailing  vessels  which  plied 
between  Boston  and  the  West  African  islands.  The 
voyage  occupied  twenty-two  days,  during  which  time 
Prescott  had  a  recurrence  both  of  his  rheumatic  pains 
and  of  the  inflammatory  condition  of  his  eye.  His 
discomfort  was  enhanced  by  the  wretchedness  of  hia 


36  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

accommodations  —  a  gloomy  little  cabin  into  which 
water  continually  trickled  from  the  deck,  and  in  which 
the  somewhat  fastidious  youth  was  forced  to  live  upon 
nauseous  messes  of  rye  pudding  sprinkled  with  coarse 
salt.  Cockroaches  and  other  vermin  swarmed  about 
him ;  and  it  must  have  been  with  keen  pleasure  that 
he  exchanged  this  floating  prison  for  the  charming 
villa  in  the  Azores,  where  his  grandfather  had  made 
his  home  in  the  midst  of  groves  and  gardens,  blooming 
with  a  semi-tropical  vegetation.  Mr.  Hickling,  during 
his  long  residence  at  St.  Michael's,  had  married  a 
Portuguese  lady  for  his  second  wife,  and  his  family 
received  Prescott  with  unstinted  cordiality.  The 
change  from  the  bleak  shores  of  New  England  to  the 
laurels  and  myrtles  and  roses  of  the  Azores  delighted 
Prescott,  and  so  appealed  to  his  sense  of  beauty  that 
he  wrote  home  long  and  enthusiastic  letters.  But  his 
unstinted  enjoyment  of  this  Hesperian  paradise  lasted 
for  little  more  than  two  short  weeks.  He  had  landed 
on  the  18th  of  October,  and  by  November  1st  he  had 
gone  back  to  his  old  imprisonment  in  darkness,  living 
on  a  meagre  diet  and  smarting  under  the  blisters 
which  were  used  as  a  counter-irritant  to  the  rheumatic 
inflammation.  As  usual,  however,  his  cheerfulness 
was  unabated.  He  passed  his  time  in  singing,  in 
chatting  with  his  friends,  and  in  walking  hundreds  of 
miles  around  his  darkened  room.  He  remained  in 
this  seclusion  from  November  to  February,  when  his 
health  once  more  improved ;  and  two  months  later,  on 
the  8th  of  April,  1816,  he  took  passage  from  St. 
Michael's  for  London.  The  sea  voyage  and  its  at- 
tendant discomforts  had  their  usual  effect,  and  during 
twenty-two  out  of  the  twenty-four  days,  to  which  his 


ii.]  EAELY  YEARS  37 

weary  journey  was  prolonged,  he  was  confined  to  his 
cabin. 

On  reaching  London  his  case  was  very  carefully 
diagnosed  by  three  of  the  most  eminent  English 
specialists,  Dr.  Farre,  Sir  William  Adams,  and  Mr. 
(afterward  Sir)  Astley  Cooper.  Their  verdict  was 
not  encouraging,  for  they  decided  that  no  local  treat- 
ment of  his  eyes  could  be  of  any  particular  advantage, 
and  that  the  condition  of  the  right  eye  would  always 
depend  very  largely  upon  the  general  condition  of  his 
system.  They  prescribed  for  him,  however,  and  he 
followed  out  their  regimen  with  conscientious  scrupu- 
losity. After  a  three  months'  stay  in  London,  he 
crossed  the  Channel  and  took  up  his  abode  in  Paris. 
In  England,  owing  to  his  affliction,  he  had  been  able 
to  do  and  see  but  little,  because  he  was  forbidden  to 
leave  his  room  after  nightfall,  and  of  course  he  could 
not  visit  the  theatre  or  meet  the  many  interesting  per- 
sons to  whom  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  American 
Minister  to  England,  offered  to  present  him.  Some- 
thing he  saw  of  the  art  collections  of  London,  and  he 
was  especially  impressed  by  the  Elgin  Marbles  and 
Raphael's  cartoons.  There  was  a  touch  of  pathos  in 
the  wistful  way  in  which  he  paused  in  the  booksellers' 
shops  and  longingly  turned  over  rare  editions  of  the 
classics  which  it  was  forbidden  him  to  read.  "  When 
I  look  into  a  Greek  or  Latin  book,"  he  wrote  to  his 
father,  "  I  experience  much  the  same  sensation  as  does 
one  who  looks  on  the  face  of  a  dead  friend,  and  the  tears 
not  infrequently  steal  into  my  eyes."  In  Paris  he  re- 
mained two  months,  and  passed  the  following  winter 
in  Italy,  making  a  somewhat  extended  tour,  and  visit- 
ing the  most  famous  of  the  Italian  cities  in  company 


38  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT     [CHAP.  n. 

with  an  old  schoolmate.  Thence  he  returned  to  Paris, 
where  once  more  he  had  a  grievous  attack  of  his 
malady  ;  and  at  last,  in  May  of  1817,  he  again  reached 
London,  embarking  not  long  after  for  the  United 
States.  Before  leaving  England  on  this  second  visit, 
he  had  explored  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  which  in- 
terested him  extremely,  but  which  he  was  glad  to 
leave  in  order  to  be  once  more  at  home. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   CHOICE   OF   A   CAREER 

PRESCOTT'S  return  to  his  home  brought  him  face  to 
face  with  the  perplexing  question  of  his  future.  Dur- 
ing his  two  years  of  absence  this  question  must  often 
have  been  forced  upon  his  mind,  especially  during 
those  weary  weeks  when  the  darkness  of  his  sick-room 
and  the  lack  of  any  mental  diversion  threw  him  in 
upon  himself  and  left  him  often  with  his  own  thoughts 
for  company.  Even  to  his  optimistic  temperament 
the  future  may  well  have  seemed  a  gloomy  one.  Half- 
blind  and  always  dreading  the  return  of  a  painful 
malady,  what  was  it  possible  for  him  to  do  in  the 
world  whose  stir  and  movement  and  boundless  oppor- 
tunity had  so  much  attracted  him  ?  Must  he  spend 
his  years  as  a  recluse,  shut  out  from  any  real  share 
in  the  active  duties  of  life  ?  Little  as  he  was  wont 
to  dwell  upon  his  own  anxieties,  he  could  not  remain 
wholly  silent  concerning  a  subject  so  vital  to  his  hap- 
piness. In  a  letter  to  his  father,  written  from  St. 
Michael's  not  long  before  he  set  out  for  London,  he 
broached  very  briefly  a  subject  that  must  have  been 
very  often  in  his  thoughts. 

"  The  most  unpleasant  of  my  reflections  suggested  by  this 
late  inflammation  are  those  arising  from  the  probable  necessity 
of  abandoning  a  profession  congenial  with  my  taste  and 
recommended  by  such  favourable  opportunities,  and  adopt- 


40  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

ing  one  for  which  I  am  ill  qualified  and  have  but  little 
inclination.  It  is  some  consolation  that  this  latter  alterna- 
tive, should  my  eyes  per«nt,  will  afford  me  more  leisure  for 
the  pursuit  of  my  favourite  studies.  But  on  this  subject  I 
shall  consult  my  physician  and  will  write  you  his  opinion." 

Apparently  at  this  time  he  still  cherished  the  hope 
of  entering  upon  some  sort  of  a  professional  career, 
even  though  the  practice  of  the  law  were  closed  to 
him.  But  after  the  discouraging  verdict  of  the  Lon- 
don specialists  had  been  made  known,  he  took  a  more 
despondent  view.  He  wrote :  — 

"  As  to  the  future,  it  is  too  evident  I  shall  never  be  able  to 
pursue  a  profession.  God  knows  how  poorly  I  am  qualified 
and  how  little  inclined  to  be  a  merchant.  Indeed,  I  am 
sadly  puzzled  to  think  how  I  shall  succeed  even  in  this 
without  eyes." 

It  was  in  this  uncertain  state  of  mind  that  he  re  • 
turned  home  in  the  late  summer  of  1817.  The  warmth 
of  the  welcome  which  he  received  renewed  his  buoyant 
spirits,  even  though  he  soon  found  himself  again  pros- 
trated by  a  recurrence  of  his  now  familiar  trouble. 
His  father  had  leased  a  delightful  house  in  the  country 
for  his  occupancy  ;  but  the  shade-trees  that  surrounded 
it  created  a  dampness  which  was  unfavourable  to  a 
rheumatic  subject,  and  so  Prescott  soon  returned  to 
Boston.  Here  he  spent  the  winter  in  retirement,  yet 
not  in  idleness.  His  love  of  books  and  of  good  litera- 
ture became  the  more  intense  in  proportion  as  physi- 
cal activity  was  impossible;  and  he  managed  to  get 
through  a  good  many  books,  thanks  to  the  kindness 
of  his  sister  and  of  his  former  school  companion, 
William  Gardiner,  both  of  whom  devoted  a  part  of 
each  day  to  reading  aloud  to  Prescott,  —  Gardiner  the 


in.]  THE   CHOICE   OF  A  CAREER  41 

classics,  and  Miss  Prescott  the  standard  English  au- 
thors in  history,  poetry,  and  belles-lettres  in  general. 
These  readings  often  occupied  many  consecutive  hours, 
extending  at  times  far  into  the  night;  and  they  re- 
lieved Prescott's  seclusion  of  much  of  its  irksomeness, 
while  they  stored  his  mind  with  interesting  topics  of 
thought.  It  was,  in  reality,  the  continuation  of  a 
system  of  vicarious  reading  which  he  had  begun  two 
years  before  in  St.  Michael's,  where  he  had  managed, 
by  the  aid  of  another's  eyes,  to  enjoy  the  romances  of 
Scott,  which  were  then  beginning  to  appear,  and  to 
renew  his  acquaintance  with  Shakespeare,  Homer,  and 
the  Greek  and  Roman  historians. 

From  reading  literature,  it  was  a  short  step  to 
attempting  its  production.  Pledging  his  sister  to  se- 
crecy, Prescott  composed  and  dictated  to  her  an  essay 
which  was  'sent  anonymously  to  the  North  American 
Review,  then  a  literary  fledgling  of  two  years,  but  al- 
ready making  its  way  to  a  position  of  authority.  This 
little  ballon  d'essai  met  the  fate  of  many  such,  for  the 
manuscript  was  returned  within  a  fortnight.  Pres- 
cott's only  comment  was,  "  There !  I  was  a  fool  to  send 
it !  "  Yet  the  instinct  to  write  was  strong  within  him, 
and  before  very  long  was  again  to  urge  him  with  com- 
pelling force  to  test  his  gift.  But  meanwhile,  finding 
that  his  life  of  quiet  and  seclusion  did  very  little  for 
his  eyes,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  might  just  as 
well  go  out  into  the  world  more  freely  and  mingle 
with  the  friends  whose  society  he  missed  so  much. 
After  a  little  cautious  experimenting,  which  appar- 
ently did  no  harm,  he  resumed  the  old  life  from  which, 
for  three  years,  he  had  been  self-banished.  The  effect 
upon  him  mentally  was  admirable,  and  he  was  now 


42  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT         [CHAP. 

safe  from  any  possible  danger  of  becoming  morbidly 
introspective  from  the  narrowness  of  his  environ- 
ment. He  went  about  freely  all  through  the  year 
1818,  indulging  in  social  pleasures  with  the  keenest  zest. 
His  bent  for  literature,  however,  asserted  itself  in  the 
foundation  of  a  little  society  or  club,  whose  members 
gathered  informally,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  reading 
of  papers  and  for  genial  yet  frank  criticism  of  one 
another's  productions.  This  club  never  numbered 
more  than  twenty-four  persons,  but  they  were  all  cul- 
tivated men,  appreciative  and  yet  discriminating,  and 
the  list  of  them  contains  some  names,  such  as  those  of 
Franklin  Dexter,  Theophilus  Parsons,  John  Ware,  and 
Jared  Sparks,  which,  like  Prescott's  own,  belong  to  the 
record  of  American  letters.  For  their  own  amusement, 
they  subsequently  brought  out  a  little  periodical  called 
The  Club-Room,  of  which  four  numbers  in  all  were 
published,1  and  to  which  Prescott,  who  acted  as  its 
editor,  made  three  contributions,  one  of  them  a  sort  of 
humorous  editorial  article,  very  local  in  its  interest, 
another  a  sentimental  tale  called  "  The  Vale  of  Alle- 
rid,"  and  the  third  a  ghost  story  called  "  Calais."  They 
were  like  thousands  of  such  trifles  which  are  written 
every  year  by  amateurs,  and  they  exhibit  no  literary 
qualities  which  raise  them  above  the  level  of  the  com- 
monplace. The  sole  importance  of  TJie  Club-Room's 
brief  existence  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  possibly  did 
something  to  lure  Prescott  along  the  path  that  led  to 
serious  literary  productiveness. 

One  very  important  result  of  his  return  to  social 
life  was  found  in  his  marriage,  in  1820,  to  Miss  Susan 

i  The  first  number  appeared  in  February,  1820 ;  the  last  in  July 
of  the  same  year. 


in.]  THE   CHOICE   OF  A   CAREER  43 

Amory,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  C.  Amory,  a  lead- 
ing merchant  of  Boston.1  The  bride  was  a  very  charming 
girl,  to  whom  her  young  husband  was  passionately  de- 
voted, and  who  rilled  his  life  with  a  radiant  happiness 
which  delighted  all  who  knew  and  loved  him.  His 
naturally  buoyant  spirits  rose  to  exuberance  after  his 
engagement.  He  forgot  his  affliction.  He  let  his 
reading  go  by  the  board.  He  was,  in  fact,  too  happy 
for  anything  but  happiness,  and  this  delight  even 
inspired  him  to  make  a  pun  that  is  worth  recording. 
Prescott  was  an  inveterate  punster,  and  his  puns  were 
almost  invariably  bad ;  but  when  his  bachelor  friends 
reproached  him  for  his  desertion  of  them,  he  laughed 
and  answered  them  with  the  Vergilian  line,  — 

"  Omnia  vincit  amor  et  nos  cedamus  Amori "  — 

a  play  upon  words  which  Thackeray  independently 
chanced  upon  many  years  later  in  writing  Pendennis, 
and  d  propos  of  a  very  different  Miss  Amory.  It  is  of 
interest  to  recall  the  description  given  by  Mr.  Ticknor 
of  Prescott  as  he  appeared  at  the  time  of  his  marriage 
(May  4,  1820)  and,  indeed,  very  much  as  he  remained 
down  to  the  hour  of  his  death. 

"  My  friend  was  one  of  the  finest  looking  men  I  have  ever 
seen ;  or,  if  this  should  be  deemed  in  some  respects  a  strong 
expression,  I  shall  be  fully  justified  ...  in  saying  that  he 
was  one  of  the  most  attractive.  He  was  tall,  well  formed, 
manly  in  his  bearing  but  gentle,  with  light  brown  hair  that 

1  Her  mother  had  been  Miss  Hannah  Linzee,  whose  father,  Cap- 
tain Linzee,  of  the  British  sloop-of-war  Falcon,  had  tried  by  heavy 
cannonading  to  dislodge  Colonel  William  Prescott  from  the  redoubt 
at  Bunker  Hill.  The  swords  of  the  two  had  been  handed  down  in 
their  respective  families,  and  now  found  a  peaceful  resting-place  in 
young  Prescott's  "  den,"  where  they  hung  crossed  upon  the  wall 
above  his  books. 


44  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

was  hardly  changed  or  diminished  by  years,  with  a  clear 
complexion  and  a  ruddy  flush  on  his  cheek  that  kept  for  him 
to  the  last  an  appearance  of  comparative  youth,  but  above 
all  with  a  smile  that  was  the  most  absolutely  contagious  I 
ever  looked  on.  ...  Even  in  the  last  months  of  his  life 
when  he  was  in  some  other  respects  not  a  little  changed,  he 
appeared  at  least  ten  years  younger  than  he  really  was.  And 
as  for  the  gracious  sunny  smile  that  seemed  to  grow  sweeter 
as  he  grew  older,  it  was  not  entirely  obliterated  even  by  the 
touch  of  death." 

After  Prescott  had  been  married  for  about  a  year, 
the  old  question  of  a  life  pursuit  recurred  and  was 
considered  by  him  seriously.  Without  any  very  defi- 
nite aim,  yet  with  a  half-unconscious  intuition,  he  re- 
solved to  store  his  mind  with  abundant  reading,  so  that 
he  might,  at  least  in  some  way,  be  fitted  for  the  career 
of  a  man  of  letters.  Hitherto,  in  the  desultory  fashion 
of  his  boyhood,  he  had  dipped  into  many  authors,  yet 
he  really  knew  nothing  thoroughly  and  well.  In  the 
classics  he  was  perhaps  best  equipped ;  but  of  English 
literature  his  knowledge  was  superficial  because  he  had 
read  only  here  and  there,  and  rather  for  the  pleasure 
of  the  moment  than  for  intellectual  discipline.  He 
had  a  slight  smattering  of  French,  sufficient  for  the 
purposes  of  a  traveller,  but  nothing  more.  Of  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  German  he  was  wholly  ignorant,  and 
with  the  literatures  of  these  three  languages  he  had 
never  made  even  the  slightest  acquaintance.  Conning 
over  in  a  reflective  mood  the  sum  total  of  his  acquisi- 
tions and  defects,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
would  undertake  what  he  called  in  a  memorandum  "a 
course  of  studies,"  including  "  the  principles  of  gram- 
mar and  correct  writing"  and  the  history  of  the 
Forth  American  Continent,  He  also  resolved  to  de- 


in.]  THE   CHOICE  OF  A  CAREER  45 

vote  one  hour  a  day  to  the  Latin  classics.  Some  six 
months  after  this,  his  purpose  had  expanded,  and  he 
made  a  second  resolution,  which  he  recorded  in  the 
following  words :  — 

"  I  am  now  twenty-six  years  of  age,  nearly.  By  the  time  I 
am  thirty,  God  willing,  I  propose  with  what  stock  I  have 
already  on  hand  to  be  a  very  well  read  English  scholar;  to 
be  acquainted  with  the  classical  and  useful  authors,  prose 
and  poetry,  in  Latin,  French,  and  Italian,  and  especially  in 
history  —  I  do  not  mean  a  critical  or  profound  acquaintance. 
The  two  following  years  I  may  hope  to  learn  German,  and 
to  have  read  the  classical  German  writers ;  and  the  transla- 
tions, if  my  eye  continues  weak,  of  the  Greek." 

To  this  memorandum  he  adds  the  comment  that 
such  a  course  of  study  would  be  sufficient  "  for  gen- 
eral discipline  "  —  a  remark  which  proves  that  he  had 
not  as  yet  any  definite  plan  in  undertaking  his  self- 
ordered  task.  For  several  years  he  devoted  himself 
with  great  industry  to  the  course  which  he  had 
marked  out.  He  went  back  to  the  pages  of  Blair's 
Khetoric  and  to  Lindley  Murray's  Grammar,  and  he 
read  consecutively,  making  notes  as  he  read,  the  older 
masters  of  English  prose  style  from  Roger  Ascham, 
Sidney,  Bacon,  and  Ealeigh  down  to  the  authors  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  even  later.  In  Latin  he 
reviewed  Tacitus,  Livy,  and  Cicero.  His  reading 
seems  to  have  been  directed  less  to  the  subject- 
matter  than  to  the  understanding  and  appreciation 
of  style  as  a  revelation  of  the  writer's  essential 
characteristics.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  study  of  psychol- 
ogy quite  as  much  as  a  study  of  literature.  Passing 
on  to  French,  he  found  the  literature  of  that  language 
comparatively  unsympathetic,  and  he  contrasted  it  un- 


46  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

favourably  with  the  English.  He  derived  some  pleas- 
ure from  the  prose  of  Montaigne  and  Bossuet,  and  from 
Corneille  and  Moliere ;  but,  on  the  whole,  French  poetry 
always  seemed  to  him  too  rigid  in  its  formal  classicism 
to  be  enjoyable.  Side  by  side  with  his  French  reading, 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  early  English  ballad- 
poetry  and  the  old  romances,  and,  in  1823,  he  took  up 
Italian,  which  appealed  to  him  intensely,  so  that  he 
read  an  extraordinary  amount  and  made  the  most 
voluminous  notes  upon  every  author  that  interested 
him,  besides  writing  long  criticisms  and  argumenta- 
tive letters  to  his  friend  Ticknor,  full  of  praises  of 
Petrarch  and  Dante,  and  defending  warmly  the  real 
existence  of  Laura  and  the  genuineness  of  Dante's 
passion  for  Beatrice.  For  Dante,  indeed,  Prescott 
conceived  a  most  enthusiastic  admiration,  which  found 
expression  in  many  a  letter  to  his  friend. 

The  immediate  result  of  his  Italian  studies  was  the 
preparation  of  some  articles  which  were  published  in 
the  North  American  Review  —  the  first  on  Italian  nar- 
rative poetry  (October,  1824).  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  series ;  since,  nearly  every  year  thereafter, 
some  paper  from  his  pen  appeared  in  that  publication. 
One  article  on  Italian  poetry  and  romance  was  origi- 
nally offered  to  the  English  Quarterly  Review  through 
Jared  Sparks,  and  was  accepted  by  the  editor;  but 
Prescott,  growing  impatient  over  the  delay  in  its  ap- 
pearance, recalled  the  manuscript  and  gave  it  to  the 
North  American.  These  essays  of  Prescott  were  not 
rated  very  highly  by  their  author,  and  we  can  accept 
his  own  estimate  as,  on  the  whole,  a  just  one.  They 
are  written  in  an  urbane  and  agreeable  manner,  but 
are  wholly  lacking  in  originality,  insight,  and  vigour ; 


m.]  THE  CHOICE  OF  A  CAREER  47 

while  their  bits  of  learning  strike  the  more  modern 
reader  as  old  fashioned,  even  if  not  pedantic.  This 
literary  work,  however,  slight  as  may  be  its  intrinsic 
merit,  was  at  least  an  apprenticeship  in  letters,  and 
gave  to  Prescott  a  useful  training  in  the  technique  of 
composition. 

In  1824,  something  of  great  moment  happened  in 
the  course  of  Prescott' s  search  for  a  life  career.  He 
had,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  already  men- 
tioned, taken  up  the  study  of  German ;  but  he  found 
it  not  only  difficult  but,  to  him,  uninteresting.  After 
several  months  he  became  discouraged ;  and  though 
he  read  on,  he  did  so,  as  he  himself  has  recorded,  with 
no  method  and  with  very  little  diligence  or  spirit.  Just 
at  this  time  Mr.  George  Ticknor,  who  had  been  deliver- 
ing a  course  of  lectures  in  Harvard  on  the  subject  of 
Spanish  literature,  read  over  some  of  these  lectures  to 
Prescott,  merely  to  amuse  him  and  to  divert  his  mind. 
The  immediate  result  was  that  Prescott  resolved  to 
give  up  his  German  studies  and  to  substitute  a  course 
in  Spanish.  On  the  first  day  of  December,  1824,  he 
employed  a  teacher  of  that  language,  and  commenced 
a  course  of  study  which  was  to  prove  wonderfully 
fruitful,  and  which  ended  only  with  his  life.  He 
seems  to  have  begun  the  reading  of  Spanish  from 
the  very  moment  that  he  took  up  the  study  of  its 
grammar,  and  there  is  an  odd  significance  in  a  re- 
mark which  he  wrote  down  only  a  few  days  after: 
"  I  snatch  a  fraction  of  the  morning  from  the  inter- 
esting treatise  of  M.  Josse  on  the  Spanish  language 
and  from  the  Conquista  de  Mexico,  which,  notwith- 
standing the  time  I  have  been  upon  it,  I  am  far 
from  having  conquered."  The  deadening  effects  of 


48  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

German  upon  his  mind  seem  to  have  endured  for 
a  while,  since  at  Christmas  time  he  was  still  pur- 
suing his  studies  with  a  certain  listlessness ;  and  he 
wrote  to  Bancroft,  the  historian,  a  letter  which  con- 
tained one  remark  that  is  very  curious  when  we  read 
it  in  the  light  of  his  subsequent  career :  — 

"  I  am  battling  with  the  Spaniards  this  winter,  but  I  have 
not  the  heart  for  it  as  I  had  for  the  Italians.  /  doubt 
whether  there  are  many  valuable  things  that  the  key  of  know- 
ledge will  unlock  in  that  language" 

Another  month,  however,  found  him  filled  with  the 
joy  of  one  who  has  at  last  laid  his  hand  upon  that  for 
which  he  has  long  been  groping.  He  expressed  this 
feeling  very  vividly  in  a  letter  quoted  by  Mr.  Ticknor  :  — 

"Did  you  never,  in  learning  a  language,  after  groping 
about  in  the  dark  for  a  long  while,  suddenly  seem  to  turn  an 
angle  where  the  light  breaks  upon  you  all  at  once  ?  The 
knack  seems  to  have  come  to  me  within  the  last  fortnight  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  art  of  swimming  comes  to  those  who 
have  been  splashing  about  for  months  in  the  water  in  vain." 

Spanish  literature  exercised  upon  his  mind  a  peculiar 
charm,  and  he  boldly  dashed  into  the  writing  of  Spanish 
even  from  the  first.  Ticknor's  well-stored  library  sup- 
plied him  with  an  abundance  of  books,  and  his  own 
comments  upon  the  Castilian  authors  in  whom  he  rev- 
elled were  now  written  not  in  English  but  in  Spanish 
—  naturally  the  Spanish  of  a  beginner,  yet  with  a  feel- 
ing for  idiom  which  greatly  surprised  Ticknor.  Even 
in  after  years,  Prescott  never  acquired  a  faultless  Span- 
ish diction ;  but  he  wrote  with  clearness  and  fluency, 
so  that  his  Spanish  was  very  individual,  and,  in  this 
respect,  not  unlike  the  Latin  of  Politian  or  of  Milton. 

Up  to  this  time  Prescott  had  been  cultivating  his 


in.]  THE   CHOICE   OF   A  CAREER  49 

mind  and  storing  it  with  knowledge  without  having 
formed  any  clear  conception  of  what  he  was  to  do 
with  his  intellectual  accumulations.  At  first,  when  he 
formed  a  plan  of  systematic  study,  his  object  had 
been  only  the  modest  one  of  "  general  discipline,"  as 
he  expressed  it.  As  he  went  on,  however,  he  seems 
to  have  had  an  instinctive  feeling  that  even  without 
intention  he  was  moving  toward  a  definite  goal.  Just 
what  this  was  he  did  not  know,  but  none  the  less 
he  was  not  without  faith  that  it  would  ultimately  be 
revealed  to  him.  Looking  back  over  all  the  memo- 
randa that  he  has  left  behind,  it  is  easy  now  to  see  that 
his  drift  had  always  been  toward  historical  investiga- 
tion. His  boyish  tastes,  already  described,  declared  his 
interest  in  the  lives  of  men  of  action.  His  maturer 
preferences  pointed  in  the  same  direction.  It  has  here- 
tofore been  noted  that,  in  1821,  when  he  marked  out 
for  himself  his  first  formal  plan  of  study,  he  included 
"  the  compendious  history  of  North  America  "  as  one 
of  the  subjects.  While  reading  French  he  had  dwelt 
especially  upon  the  chroniclers  and  historians  from 
Froissart  down.  In  Spanish  he  had  been  greatly  at- 
tracted by  Mariana's  Historia  de  Espana,  which  is  still 
one  of  the  Castilian  classics ;  and  this  work  had  led 
him  to  the  perusal  of  Mably's  acute  and  philosophi- 
cal Etude  de  VHistoire.  He  himself  long  afterward 
explained  that  still  earlier  than  this  he  had  been 
strongly  attracted  to  historical  writing,  especially 
after  reading  Gibbon's  Autobiography,  which  he  came 
upon  in  1820.  Even  then,  he  tells  us,  he  had  pro- 
posed to  himself  to  become  an  historian  "  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term."  About  1822  he  jotted  down  the 
following  in  his  private  notes  :  — 


60  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

"  History  has  always  been  a  favourite  study  with  me  and  I 
have  long  looked  forward  to  it  as  a  subject  on  which  I  was 
one  day  to  exercise  my  pen.  It  is  not  rash,  in  the  dearth 
of  well-written  American  history,  to  entertain  the  hope  of 
throwing  light  upon  this  matter.  This  is  my  hope." 

Nevertheless,  although  his  bent  was  so  evidently  for 
historical  composition,  he  had  as  yet  received  no  im- 
pulse toward  any  especial  department  of  that  field. 
In  October,  1825,  we  find  him  making  this  confession 
of  his  perplexity :  "  I  have  been  so  hesitating  and  re- 
flecting upon  what  I  shall  do,  that  I  have  in  fact  done 
nothing."  And  five  days  later,  he  set  down  the  follow- 
ing :  "  I  have  passed  the  last  fortnight  in  examination 
of  a  suitable  subject  for  historical  composition."  In 
his  case  there  was  no  need  for  haste.  He  realised  that 
historical  research  demands  maturity  of  mind.  "I 
think,"  he  said,  "  thirty-five  years  of  age  full  soon 
enough  to  put  pen  to  paper."  And  again  :  "  I  care  not 
how  long  a  time  I  take  for  it,  provided  I  am  diligent 
in  all  that  time." 

It  is  clear  from  one  of  the  passages  just  quoted, 
that  his  first  thought  was  to  choose  a  distinctively 
American  theme.  This,  however,  he  put  aside  without 
any  very  serious  consideration,  although  he  had  looked 
into  the  material  at  hand  and  had  commented  upon  its 
richness.  His  love  of  Italian  literature  and  of  Italy 
drew  him  strongly  to  an  Italian  theme,  and  for  a  while 
he  thought  of  preparing  a  careful  study  of  that  great 
movement  which  transformed  the  republic  of  ancient 
Rome  into  an  empire.  Again,  still  with  Italy  in 
mind,  he  debated  with  himself  the  preparation  of  a 
work  on  Italian  literature,  —  a  work  (to  use  his  own 
words)  "which,  without  giving  a  chronological  and 


in.]  THE   CHOICE   OF  A   CAREER  61 

minute  analysis  of  authors,  should  exhibit  in  masses 
the  most  important  periods,  revolutions,  and  characters 
in  the  history  of  Italian  letters."  Further  reflection, 
however,  led  him  to  reject  this,  partly  because  it  would 
involve  so  extensive  and  critical  a  knowledge  of  all 
periods  of  Italian  literature,  and  also  because  the  sub- 
ject was  not  new,  having  in  a  way  been  lately  treated 
by  Sismondi.  Prescott  makes  another  and  very  char- 
acteristic remark,  which  shows  him  to  have  been  then 
as  always  the  man  of  letters  as  well  as  the  historian, 
with  a  keen  eye  to  what  is  interesting.  "  Literary 
history,"  he  says,  "is  not  so  amusing  as  civil." 

The  choice  of  a  Spanish  subject  had  occurred  to  him 
in  a  casual  way  soon  after  he  had  taken  up  the  study 
of  the  Spanish  language.  In  a  letter  already  quoted  as 
having  been  written  in  December  of  1825,  he  balances 
such  a  theme  with  his  project  for  a  Roman  one:  — 

"  I  have  been  hesitating  between  two  topics  for  historical 
investigation  —  Spanish  history  from  the  invasion  of  the 
Arabs  to  the  consolidation  of  the  monarchy  under  Charles 
V.,  or  a  history  of  the  revolution  of  ancient  Rome  which 
converted  the  republic  into  an  empire.  .  .  .  I  shall  probably 
select  the  first  as  less  difficult  of  execution  than  the  second." 

He  also  planned  a  collection  of  biographical  sketches 
and  criticisms,  but  presently  rejected  that,  as  he  did,  a 
year  later,  the  Roman  subject ;  and  after  having  done 
so,  the  mists  began  to  clear  away  and  a  great  pur- 
pose to  take  shape  before  his  mental  vision.  On  Janu- 
ary 8,  1826,  he  wrote  a  long  memorandum  which 
represents  the  focussing  of  his  hitherto  vague  mental 
strivings. 

"Cannot  I  contrive  to  embrace  the  gist  of  the  Spanish 
subject  without  involving  myself  in  the  unwieldy  barbarous 


52  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

records  of  a  thousand  years?  What  new  and  interesting 
topic  may  be  admitted  —  not  forced — into  the  reigns  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella?  Can  I  not  indulge  in  a  retrospec- 
tive picture  of  the  constitutions  of  Castile  and  Aragon  — 
of  the  Moorish  dynasties  and  the  causes  of  their  decay  and 
dissolution?  Then  I  have  the  Inquisition  with  its  bloody 
persecutions ;  the  conquest  of  Granada,  a  brilliant  passage  ; 
the  exploits  of  the  Great  Captain  in  Italy;  .  .  .  the  discov- 
ery of  a  new  world,  my  own  country.  ...  A  biography 
will  make  me  responsible  for  a  limited  space  only ;  will  re- 
quire much  less  reading ;  will  offer  the  deeper  interest  which 
always  attaches  to  minute  developments  of  character,  and 
the  continuous,  closely  connected  narratives.  The  subject 
brings  me  to  a  point  whence  [modern]  English  history  has 
started,  is  untried  ground,  and  in  my  opinion  a  rich  one. 
The  age  of  Ferdinand  is  most  important.  ...  It  is  in  every 
respect  an  interesting  and  momentous  period  of  history ;  the 
materials  authentic,  ample.  I  will  chew  upon  this  matter 
and  decide  this  week." 

Long  afterward  (in  1847)  Prescott  pencilled  upon 
this  memorandum  the  words :  "  This  was  the  first  germ 
of  my  conception  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  On 
January  19th,  after  some  further  wavering,  he  wrote 
down  definitely :  "  I  subscribe  to  the  History  of  the 
Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  Opposite  this  note 
he  made,  in  1847,  the  brief  but  emphatic  comment,  — 
"  A  fortunate  choice." 

From  this  decision  he  never  retreated,  though  at 
times  he  debated  with  himself  the  wisdom  of  his 
choice.  His  apparent  vacillation  was  due  to  a  return 
of  the  inflammation  in  his  eye.  For  a  little  while  this 
caused  him  to  shrink  back  from  the  difficulties  of  his 
Spanish  subject,  involving  as  it  did  an  immense 
amount  of  reading ;  and  there  came  into  his  head  the 
project  of  writing  an  historical  survey  of  English  lit- 
erature. But  on  the  whole  he  held  fast  to  his  original 


in.]  THE   CHOICE   OF   A   CAREER  53 

resolution,  and  soon  entered  upon  that  elaborate  prep- 
aration which  was  to  give  to  American  literature 
a  masterpiece.  In  his  final  selection  of  a  theme  we 
can,  indeed,  discern  the  blending  of  several  currents 
of  reflection  and  the  combination  of  several  of  his 
earlier  purposes.  Though  his  book  was  to  treat  of 
two  Spanish  sovereigns,  it  nevertheless  related  to  a 
reign  whose  greatest  lustre  was  conferred  upon  it  by 
an  Italian  and  by  the  discovery  of  the  Western  World. 
Thus  Prescott's  early  predilection  for  American  history, 
his  love  for  Italy,  and  his  new-born  interest  in  Spain 
were  all  united  to  stimulate  him  in  the  task  upon 
which  he  had  now  definitely  entered. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SUCCESS 

DR.  JOHNSON,  in  his  rather  unsympathetic  life  of 
Milton,  declares  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  blind  man 
to  write  history.  Already,  before  Prescott  began  his- 
torical composition,  this  dictum  had  been  refuted  by 
the  brilliant  French  historian,  Augustin  Thierry, 
whose  scholarly  study  of  the  Merovingian  period  was 
composed  after  he  had  wholly  lost  his  sight.1  More- 
over, Prescott  was  not  wholly  blind,  for  at  times  he 
could  make  a  cautious  use  of  the  right  eye.  Never- 
theless, the  task  to  which  he  had  set  himself  was  suffi- 
ciently formidable  to  deter  a  less  persistent  spirit.  In 
the  first  place,  all  the  original  sources  of  information 
were  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Nowhere  in 
the  United  States  was  there  a  public  library  such  as 
even  some  of  our  smaller  cities  now  possess.  Prescott 
himself,  moreover,  had  at  this  time  done  comparatively 
little  special  reading  in  the  subject  of  which  he  pro- 
posed to  write;  and  the  skilled  assistance  which  he 
might  easily  have  secured  in  Europe  was  not  to  be  had 
in  the  United  States.  Finally,  though  he  was  not 
blind  in  the  ordinary  sense,  he  could  not  risk  a  total 
loss  of  sight  by  putting  upon  his  remaining  eye  the 
strain  of  continuous  and  fatiguing  use. 

1  Professor  Jameson  mentions  two  other  contemporary  instances, 
—  Karl  Szaynocha  and  Prescott's  Florentine  correspondent,  the 
Marquis  Giiio  Capponi. 

64 


CHAP,  iv.]  SUCCESS  55 

In  spite  of  all  these  obstacles  and  discouragements, 
however,  he  began  his  undertaking  with  a  touch  of 
that  stoicism  which,  as  Thomas  Hughes  has  some- 
where said,  makes  the  Anglo-Saxon  find  his  keenest 
pleasure  in  enduring  and  overcoming.  Prescott  had 
planned  to  devote  a  year  to  preliminary  studies  be- 
fore putting  pen  to  paper.  The  work  which  he  then 
had  in  mind  was  intended  by  him  to  be  largely  one  of 
compilation  from  the  works  of  foreign  writers,  to  be  of 
moderate  size,  with  few  pretensions  to  originality,  and 
to  claim  attention  chiefly  because  the  subject  was  still 
a  new  one  to  English  readers.  He  felt  that  he  would 
be  accomplishing  a  great  deal  if  he  should  read 
and  thoroughly  digest  the  principal  French,  Spanish, 
and  Italian  historians  —  Mariana,  Llorente,  Varillas, 
Flechier,  and  Sismondi  —  and  give  a  well-balanced 
account  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  reign  based  upon 
what  these  and  a  few  other  scholarly  authorities  had 
written.  But  the  zeal  of  the  investigator  soon  had  him 
in  its  grip.  Scarcely  had  the  packages  of  books  which 
he  had  ordered  from  Madrid  begun  to  reach  his  library 
than  his  project  broadened  out  immensely  into  a  work 
of  true  creative  scholarship.  His  year  of  reading  now 
appeared  to  him  absurdly  insufficient.  It  had,  indeed, 
already  been  badly  broken  into  by  one  of  his  inflam- 
matory attacks ;  and  his  progress  was  hampered  by 
the  inadequate  assistance  which  he  received.  A 
reader,  employed  by  him  to  read  aloud  the  Spanish 
books,  performed  the  duty  valiantly  but  without  under- 
standing a  single  word  of  Spanish,  very  much  as  Mil- 
ton's daughters  read  Greek  and  Hebrew  to  their 
father.  Thinking  of  his  new  and  more  ambitious  con- 
ception of  his  purpose  and  of  the  hindrances  which 


66  WILLIAM  HICKLING  TRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

beset  him,  Prescott  wrote :  "  Travelling  at  this  lame 
gait,  I  may  yet  hope  in  five  or  six  years  to  reach 
the  goal."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  three  years  and 
a  half  before  he  wrote  the  opening  sentence  of  his 
book.  It  was  ten  years  before  he  finished  the  last 
foot-note  of  the  final  chapter.  It  was  nearly  twelve 
years  before  the  book  was  given  to  the  public. 

Some  account  of  his  manner  of  working  may  be  of 
interest,  and  it  is  convenient  to  describe  it  here  once  for 
all.  In  the  second  year,  after  he  had  begun  his  prelim- 
inary studies,  he  secured  the  services  of  a  Mr.  James 
English,  a  young  Harvard  graduate,  who  had  some 
knowledge  of  the  modern  languages.  This  gentleman 
devoted  himself  to  Prescott's  interests,  and  henceforth 
a  definite  routine  of  study  and  composition  was  es- 
tablished and  was  continued  with  other  secretaries 
throughout  Prescott's  life.  Mr.  English  has  left  some 
interesting  notes  of  his  experiences,  which  admit  us  to 
the  library  of  the  large  house  on  Bedford  Street,  where 
the  two  men  worked  so  diligently  together.  It  was  a 
spacious  room  in  the  back  of  the  house,  lined  on  two 
sides  with  books  which  reached  the  ceiling.  Against 
a  third  side  was  a  large  green  screen,  toward  which 
Prescott  faced  while  seated  at  his  table ;  while  behind 
him  was  an  ample  window,  over  which  a  series  of  pale 
blue  muslin  shades  could  be  drawn,  thus  regulating  the 
illumination  of  the  room  according  to  the  state  of 
Prescott's  eye  and  the  conditions  of  the  weather. 
At  a  second  window  sat  Mr.  English,  ready  to  act 
either  as  reader  or  as  amanuensis  when  required. 

Allusion  has  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  Pres- 
cott's written  memoranda  and  to  his  letters,  which, 
indeed,  were  often  very  long  and  very  frequent.  It 


iv.]  SUCCESS  57 

must  not  be  thought  that  in  writing  these  he  had  to 
make  any  use  of  his  imperfect  sight.  The  need  of 
this  had  been  obviated  by  an  invention  which  he  had 
first  heard  of  in  London  during  his  visit  there  in  1816. 
It  was  a  contrivance  called  "  the  noctograph,"  meant 
for  the  use  of  the  blind.  A  frame  like  that  of  a  slate 
was  crossed  by  sixteen  parallel  wires  fastened  into 
the  sides  and  holding  down  a  sheet  of  blackened 
paper  like  the  carbon  paper  now  used  in  typewriters 
and  copying-machines.  Under  this  blackened  paper 
was  placed  a  sheet  of  plain  white  note-paper.  A  per- 
son using  the  noctograph  wrote  with  a  sort  of  stylus 
of  ivory,  agate,  or  some  other  hard  substance  upon  the 
blackened  paper,  which  conveyed  the  impression  to 
the  white  paper  underneath.  Of  course,  the  brass 
wires  guided  the  writer's  hand  and  kept  the  point 
of  the  stylus  somewhere  near  the  line.1 

Of  his  noctograph  Prescott  made  constant  use.  For 
composition  he  employed  it  almost  altogether,  seldom 
or  never  dictating  to  a  scribe.  Obviously,  however,  the 
instrument  allowed  no  erasures  or  corrections  to  be 
made,  and  the  writer  must  go  straight  forward  with 
his  task ;  since  to  go  back  and  try  to  alter  what  had 
been  once  set  down  would  make  the  whole  illegible. 
Hence  arose  the  necessity  of  what  Irving  once  de- 
scribed as  "  pre-thinking,"  —  the  determination  not 
only  of  the  content  but  of  the  actual  form  of  the  sen- 
tence before  it  should  be  written  down.  In  this  pre- 
thinking  Prescott  showed  a  power  of  memory  and  of 

1  Prescott  owned  two  noctographs,  but  did  nearly  all  of  his  writ- 
ing with  one,  keeping  the  other  in  reserve  in  case  the  first  should 
suffer  accident.  One  of  these  two  implements  is  preserved  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


68  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CSA?. 

visualisation  that  was  really  wonderful.  To  carry  in 
his  mind  the  whole  of  what  had  been  read  over  to  him 
in  a  session  of  several  hours,  —  names,  dates,  facts, 
authorities,  —  and  then  to  shape  his  narrative,  sen- 
tence by  sentence,  before  setting  down  a  word,  and, 
finally,  to  bear  in  mind  the  whole  structure  of  each 
succeeding  paragraph  and  the  form  in  which  they  had 
been  carefully  built  up  —  this  was,  indeed,  an  intellec- 
tual and  literary  achievement  of  an  unusual  character. 
Of  course,  such  a  power  as  this  did  not  come  of  itself, 
but  was  slowly  gained  by  persistent  practice  and  un- 
wearied effort.  His  personal  memoranda  show  this  : 
"  Think  closely,"  he  writes,  "  gradually  concentrating 
the  circle  of  thought."  And  again  :  "  Think  continu- 
ously and  closely  before  taking  up  my  pen.  Make  cor- 
rections chiefly  in  my  own  mind."  And  still  again  : 
"  Never  take  up  my  pen  until  I  have  travelled  over 
the  subject  so  often  that  I  can  write  almost  from 
memory." 

But  in  1827,  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  compo- 
sition. He  was  hearing  books  read  to  him  and  was 
taking  copious  notes.  How  copious  these  were,  his  dif- 
ferent secretaries  have  told ;  and  besides,  great  masses 
of  them  have  been  preserved  as  testimony  to  the  minute 
and  patient  labour  of  the  man  who  made  and  used 
them.  As  his  reader  went  on,  Prescott  would  say, 
"  Mark  that ! "  whenever  anything  seemed  to  him  espe- 
cially significant.  These  marked  passages  were  later 
copied  out  in  a  large  clear  hand  for  future  reference. 
When  the  time  came,  they  would  be  read,  studied, 
compared,  verified,  and  digested.  Sometimes  he  spent 
as  much  as  five  days  in  thus  mastering  the  notes  col- 
lected for  a  single  chapter.  Then  at  least  another  day 


iv.]  SUCCESS  69 

would  be  given  to  reflection  and  (probably)  to  com- 
position, while  from  five  to  nine  days  more  might  go 
to  the  actual  writing  out  of  the  text.  This  power  of 
Prescott' s  increased  with  constant  exercise.  Later,  he 
was  able  to  carry  in  his  head  the  whole  of  the  first  and 
second  chapters  of  his  Conquest  of  Peru  (nearly  sixty 
pages)  before  committing  them  to  paper,  and  in  pre- 
paring his  last  work,  Philip  IL,  he  composed  and  memo- 
rised the  whole  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  chapters  of 
Book  II.,  amounting  to  seventy-two  printed  pages. 

Prescott  had  elaborated  a  system  of  his  own  for  the 
regulation  of  his  daily  life  while  he  was  working. 
This  system  was  based  upon  the  closest  observation, 
extending  over  years,  of  the  physical  effect  upon  him 
of  everything  he  did.  The  result  was  a  regimen  which 
represented  his  customary  mode  of  living.  Rising 
early  in  the  morning,  he  took  outdoor  exercise,  except 
during  storms  of  exceptional  severity.  He  rode  well 
and  loved  a  spirited  horse,  though  sometimes  he  got  a 
fall  from  letting  his  attention  stray  to  his  studies  in- 
stead of  keeping  it  on  the  temper  of  his  animal.  But, 
in  the  coldest  weather,  on  foot  or  in  the  saddle,  he  cov- 
ered several  miles  before  breakfast,  to  which  he  always 
came  back  in  high  spirits,  having,  as  he  expressed  it, 
"  wound  himself  up  for  the  day."  After  a  very  simple 
breakfast,  he  went  at  once  to  his  library,  where,  for  an 
hour  or  so,  he  chatted  with  Mrs.  Prescott  or  had  her 
read  to  him  the  newspapers  or  some  popular  book  of 
the  day.  By  ten  o'clock,  serious  work  began  with  the 
arrival  of  his  secretary,  with  whom  he  worked  dili- 
gently until  one  o'clock,  for  he  seldom  sat  at  his  desk 
for  more  than  three  consecutive  hours.  A  brisk  walk 
of  a  mile  or  two  gave  him  an  appetite  for  dinner,  which 


60  WILLIAM   HICKLIXG  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

was  served  at  three  o'clock,  an  hour  which,  in  the  year 
1827,  was  not  regarded  as  remarkable,  at  least  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. This  was  a  time  of  relaxation,  of  chat  and 
gossip  and  family  fun  ;  and  it  was  then  that  Prescott 
treated  himself  to  the  amount  of  wine  which  he  had 
decided  to  allow  himself.  His  fondness  for  wine  has 
been  already  casually  mentioned.  To  him  the  question 
of  its  use  was  so  important,  that  once,  for  two  years 
and  nine  months,  he  recorded  every  day  the  exact 
amount  that  he  had  drunk  and  the  effect  which  it  had 
had  upon  his  eye  and  upon  his  general  health.  A  fur- 
ther indulgence  which  followed  after  dinner  was  the 
smoking  of  a  mild  cigar  while  his  wife  read  or  talked 
to  him.  Then,  another  walk  or  drive,  a  cup  of  tea  at 
five,  and  finally,  two  or  more  industrious  hours  with  his 
secretary,  after  which  he  came  down  to  the  library  and 
enjoyed  the  society  of  his  family  or  of  friends  who 
happened  in. 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  was  not  the  life  of  a  recluse  or 
of  a  Casaubon,  though  it  was  a  life  regulated  by  a 
wise  discretion.  To  adjust  himself  to  its  routine, 
Prescott  had  to  overcome  many  of  his  natural  tenden- 
cies. In  the  first  place,  he  was,  as  has  been  already 
noted,  of  a  somewhat  indolent  disposition ;  and  a  steady 
grind,  day  after  day  and  week  after  week,  was  some- 
thing which  he  had  never  known  in  school  or  college. 
Even  now  in  his  maturity,  and  with  the  spurring  of 
a  steady  purpose  to  urge  him  on,  he  often  faltered. 
His  memoranda  show  now  and  then  a  touch  of  self- 
accusation  or  regret. 

"  I  have  worked  lazily  enough,  or  rather  have  been  too 
busy  to  work  at  all.  Ended  the  old  year  very  badly." 

"  I  find  it  as  hard  to  get  under  way,  as  a  crazy  hulk  that 
has  been  boarded  up  for  repairs." 


iv.]  SUCCESS  61 

How  thoroughly  he  conquered  this  repugnance  to 
hard  work  is  illustrated  by  a  pathetic  incident  which 
happened  once  when  he  was  engaged  upon  a  bit  of 
writing  that  interested  him,  but  when  he  was  prevented 
by  rheumatic  pains  from  sitting  upright.  Prescott 
then  placed  his  noctograph  upon  the  floor  and  lay 
down  flat  beside  it,  writing  in  this  attitude  for  many 
hours  on  nine  consecutive  days  rather  than  give  in. 

He  tried  some  curious  devices  to  penalise  himself 
for  laziness.  He  used  to  persuade  his  friends  to  make 
bets  with  him  that  he  would  not  complete  certain 
portions  of  writing  within  a  given  time.  This  sort 
of  thing  was  a  good  deal  of  a  make-believe,  for  Pres- 
cott cared  nothing  about  money  and  had  plenty  of 
it  at  his  disposal ;  and  when  his  friends  lost,  he  never 
permitted  them  to  pay.  He  did  a  like  thing  on  a 
larger  scale  and  in  a  somewhat  different  way  by  giv- 
ing a  bond  to  his  secretary,  Mr.  English,  binding  him- 
self to  pay  a  thousand  dollars  if  within  one  year  from 
September,  1828,  Prescott  should  not  have  written  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pages  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 
This  number  of  pages  was  specified,  because  Prescott 
dreaded  his  own  instability  of  purpose,  and  felt 
that  if  he  should  once  get  so  far  as  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pages,  he  would  be  certain  to  go  on  and  finish 
the  entire  history.  Other  wagers  or  bonds  with  Mr. 
English  were  made  by  Prescott  from  time  to  time,  all 
with  the  purpose  of  counteracting  his  own  disposition 
to  far  niente. 

His  settled  mode  of  life  also  compelled  him  in  some 
measure  to  give  up  the  delights  of  general  social 
intercourse  and  the  convivial  pleasures  of  which 
he  was  naturally  fond.  There  were,  indeed,  times 


62  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

when  he  did  let  his  work  go  and  enjoyed  a  return  to 
a  freer  life,  as  when  in  the  country  at  Pepperell  he 
romped  and  rollicked  like  a  boy ;  or  when  in  Boston, 
he  was  present  at  some  of  the  jolly  little  suppers 
given  by  his  friends  and  so  much  liked  by  him.  But 
on  the  whole,  neither  his  health  nor  the  arduous  re- 
searches which  he  had  undertaken  allowed  him  often 
to  break  the  regularity  of  his  way  of  living.  Nothing, 
indeed,  testifies  more  strikingly  to  his  naturally  buoy- 
ant disposition  than  the  fact  that  years  of  unvarying 
routine  were  unable  to  make  of  Prescott  a  formalist 
or  to  render  him  less  charming  as  a  social  favourite. 
In  his  study  he  was  conspicuously  the  scholar,  the 
investigator ;  elsewhere  he  was  the  genial  companion, 
full  of  fun  and  jest,  telling  stories  and  manifesting 
that  gift  of  personal  attractiveness  which  compelled 
all  within  its  range  to  feel  wholly  and  completely  at 
their  ease.  No  writer  was  ever  less  given  to  literary  pos- 
ing. It  is,  indeed,  an  extraordinary  fact  that  although 
Prescott  was  occupied  for  ten  whole  years  in  preparing 
his  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  during  all  that  time  not 
more  than  three  persons  outside  of  his  own  family 
knew  that  he  was  writing  a  book.  His  friends  sup- 
posed that  his  hours  of  seclusion  were  occupied  in 
general  reading  and  study.  Only  when  a  formal 
announcement  of  the  history  was  made  in  the  North 
American  Review  in  1837,  did  even  his  familiar  associ- 
ates begin  to  think  of  him  as  an  author. 

The  death  of  Prescott's  little  daughter,  Catherine, 
in  February,  1829,  did  much  to  drive  him  to  hard 
work  as  a  relief  from  sorrow.  She  was  his  first-born 
child,  and  when  she  died,  she  was  a  few  months  over 
four  years  of  age, —  a  winsome  little  creature,  upon 


lv.]  SUCCESS  63 

whom  her  father  had  lavished  an  unstinted  affection. 
She  alone  had  the  privilege  of  interrupting  him 
during  his  hours  of  work.  Often  she  used  to  climb 
up  to  his  study  and  put  an  end  to  the  most  profound 
researches,  greatly,  it  is  recorded,  to  the  delight  of 
his  secretary,  who  thus  got  a  little  moment  of  relief 
from  the  deciphering  of  almost  undecipherable  scrawls. 
Her  death  was  sudden,  and  the  shock  of  it  was  there- 
fore all  the  greater.  Years  afterward,  Prescott,  in 
writing  to  a  friend  who  had  suffered  a  like  bereavement, 
disclosed  the  depths  of  his  own  anguish :  "  I  can  never 
suffer  again  as  I  then  did.  It  was  my  first  heavy 
sorrow,  and  I  suppose  we  cannot  twice  feel  so  bit- 
terly." His  labour  now  took  on  the  character  of 
a  solace,  and  perhaps  it  was  at  this  time  that  he 
formed  the  opinion  which  he  set  down  long  after :  "  I 
am  convinced  that  intellectual  occupation  —  steady, 
regular,  literary  occupation  —  is  the  true  vocation  for 
me,  indispensable  to  my  happiness." 

And  so  his  preparation  for  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
went  on  apace.  Prescott  no  longer  thought  it  enough 
to  master  the  historians  who  had  already  written  of 
this  reign.  He  went  back  of  them  to  the  very  Quellen, 
having  learned  that  the  true  historical  investigator  can 
afford  to  slight  no  possible  source  of  information,  — 
that  nothing,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  can  safely  be 
neglected.  The  packets  which  now  reached  him  from. 
Spain  and  France  grew  bulkier  and  their  contents 
more  diversified.  Not  merely  modern  tomes,  not 
merely  printed  books  were  there,  but  parchments  in 
quaint  and  crabbed  script,  to  be  laboriously  deciphered 
by  his  secretary,  with  masses  of  black-letter  and  cop- 
ies of  ancient  archives,  from  which  some  precious  fact 


64  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHA*. 

or  chance  corroboration  might  be  drawn  by  inquisitive 
industry.  The  sifting  out  of  all  this  rubbish-heap 
went  on  with  infinite  patience,  until  at  last  his  notes 
and  memoranda  contained  the  substance  of  all  that 
was  essential. 

Prescott  had  given  a  bond  to  Mr.  English  pledging 
himself  to  complete  by  September,  1829,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  printed  pages  of  the  book.  Yet  it  was  actu- 
ally not  until  this  month  had  ended  that  the  first  line 
was  written.  On  October  6, 1829,  after  three  months 
devoted  to  reviewing  his  notes  for  the  opening  chap- 
ter, he  took  his  noctograph  and  scrawled  the  initial 
sentence.  A  whole  month  was  consumed  in  finishing 
the  chapter,  and  two  months  more  in  writing  out  the 
second  and  the  third.  From  this  time  a  sense  of 
elation  filled  him,  now  that  all  his  patient  labour  was 
taking  concrete  form,  and  there  was  no  more  question 
of  putting  his  task  aside.  His  progress  might  be,  as 
he  called  it,  "  tortoise-like,"  but  he  had  felt  the  joy  of 
creation ;  and  the  work  went  on,  always  with  a  firmer 
grasp,  a  surer  sense  of  form,  and  the  clearer  light 
which  comes  to  an  artist  as  his  first  vague  impressions 
begin  under  his  hand  to  take  on  actuality.  There 
were  times  when,  from  illness,  he  had  almost  to  cease 
from  writing ;  there  were  other  times  when  he  turned 
aside  from  his  special  studies  to  accomplish  some 
casual  piece  of  literary  work.  But  these  interruptions, 
while  they  delayed  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose, 
did  not  break  the  current  of  his  interest. 

The  casual  pieces  of  writing,  to  which  allusion  has 
just  been  made,  were  oftenest  contributions  to  the 
North  American  Review.  One  of  them,  however,  was 
somewhat  more  ambitious  than  a  magazine  article. 


iv.]  SUCCESS  65 

It  was  a  life  of  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  which  Pres- 
cott  undertook  at  the  request  of  Jared  Sparks,  who 
was  editing  a  series  of  American  biographies.  This 
was  in  1834,  and  the  book  was  written  in  two  weeks 
at  Nahant.  It  certainly  did  nothing  for  Prescott's 
reputation.  What  is  true  of  this  is  true  of  everything 
that  he  wrote  outside  of  his  histories.  In  his  essays, 
and  especially  in  his  literary  criticisms,  he  seemed 
devoid  of  penetration  and  of  a  grasp  upon  the  verities. 
His  style,  too,  in  all  such  work  was  formal  and  inert. 
He  often  showed  the  extent  of  his  reading,  but  never 
an  intimate  feeling  for  character.  He  could  not  get 
down  to  the  very  core  of  his  subject  and  weigh  and 
judge  with  the  freedom  of  an  independent  critic.  His 
life  of  Brown  will  be  found  fully  to  bear  out  this  view. 
In  it  Prescott  chooses  to  condone  the  worst  of  Brown's 
defects,  and  he  gives  no  intimation  of  the  man's  real 
power.  Prescott  himself  felt  that  he  had  been  too 
eulogistic,  whereas  his  greatest  fault  was  that  the 
eulogy  was  misapplied.  Sparks  mildly  criticised  the 
book  for  its  excess  of  generalities  and  its  lack  of  con- 
crete facts. 

How  thoroughly  Prescott  prepared  himself  for  the 
writing  of  his  book  reviews  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that, 
having  been  asked  for  a  notice  of  Conde's  History 
of  the  Arabs  in  Spain,  he  spent  from  three  to  four 
months  in  preliminary  reading,  and  then  occupied 
nearly  three  months  more  in  writing  out  the  article. 
In  this  particular  case,  however,  he  felt  that  the 
paper  represented  too  much  labour  to  be  sent  to  the 
North  American,  and  therefore  it  was  set  aside  and 
ultimately  made  into  a  chapter  of  his  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella. 


66  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

It  was  on  the  25th  of  June,  1836,  that  his  history 
was  finished,  and  he  at  once  began  to  consider  the 
question  of  its  publication.  Three  years  before,  he 
had  had  the  text  set  up  in  type  so  far  as  it  was  then 
completed;  and  as  the  work  went  on,  this  private 
printing  continued  until,  soon  after  he  had  reached 
the  end,  four  copies  of  the  book  were  in  his  hands. 
These  printed  copies  had  been  prepared  for  several 
reasons.  First  of  all,  the  sight  of  his  labour  thus 
taking  concrete  form  was  a  continual  stimulus  to  him. 
He  was  still,  so  far  as  the  public  was  concerned,  a 
young  author,  and  he  felt  all  of  the  young  author's  joy 
in  contemplating  the  printed  pages  of  his  first  real 
book.  In  the  second  place,  he  wished  to  make  a 
number  of  final  alterations  and  corrections ;  and  every 
writer  of  experience  is  aware  that  the  last  subtle 
touches  can  be  given  to  a  book  only  when  it  is  actually 
in  type,  for  only  then  can  he  see  the  workmanship  as  it 
really  is,  with  its  very  soul  exposed  to  view,  seen 
as  the  public  will  see  it,  divested  of  the  partial 
nebulosity  which  obscures  the  vision  while  it  still 
remains  in  manuscript.  Finally,  Prescott  wished  to 
have  a  printed  copy  for  submission  to  the  English 
publishers.  It  was  his  earnest  hope  to  have  the  book 
appear  simultaneously  in  England  and  America,  since 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  rather  than  in  the 
United  States,  were  to  be  found  the  most  competent 
judges  of  its  worth. 

But  the  search  for  an  English  publisher  was  at  first 
unsuccessful.  Murray  rejected  it  without  even  look- 
ing at  it.  The  Longmans  had  it  carefully  examined, 
but  decided  against  accepting  it.  Prescott  was  hurt 
by  this  rejection,  the  more  so  as  he  thought  (quite 


iv.]  SUCCESS  67 

incorrectly,  as  he  afterward  discovered)  that  it  was 
Southey  who  had  advised  the  Longmans  not  to  publish 
it.  The  fact  was  that  both  of  the  firms  just  mentioned 
had  refused  it  because  their  lists  were  then  too  full  to 
justify  them  in  undertaking  a  three-volume  history. 
Prescott,  for  a  time,  experienced  some  hesitation  in 
bringing  it  out  at  all.  He  had  written  on  the  day  of  its 
completion :  "  I  should  feel  not  only  no  desire,  but  a 
reluctance  to  publish,  and  should  probably  keep  it  by 
me  for  emendations  and  additions,  were  it  not  for  the 
belief  that  the  ground  would  be  more  or  less  occupied 
in  the  meantime  by  abler  writers."  The  allusion  here 
is  to  a  history  of  the  Spanish  Arabs  announced  by 
Southey.  But  what  really  spurred  Prescott  on  to  give 
his  book  to  the  world  was  a  quiet  remark  of  his 
father's,  in  which  there  was  something  of  a  challenge 
and  a  taunt.  "  The  man,"  said  he,  "  who  writes  a  book 
which  he  is  afraid  to  publish  is  a  coward."  "  Coward  " 
was  a  name  which  no  true  Prescott  could  endure; 
and  so,  after  some  months  of  negotiation  and  reflection, 
an  arrangement  was  made  to  have  the  history  appear 
with  the  imprint  of  a  newly  founded  publishing  house, 
the  American  Stationers'  Company  of  Boston,  with 
which  Prescott  signed  a  contract  in  April,  1837.  By 
the  terms  of  this  contract  Prescott  was  to  furnish  the 
plates  and  also  the  engravings  for  the  book,  of  which 
the  company  was  to  print  1250  copies  and  to  have  five 
years  in  which  to  sell  them  —  surely  a  very  modest 
bargain.  But  Prescott  cared  little  for  financial  profits, 
nor  was  he  wholly  sanguine  of  the  book's  success. 
On  the  day  after  signing  the  contract,  he  wrote :  "  I 
must  confess  I  feel  some  disquietude  at  the  prospect  of 
coming  in  full  bodily  presence  before  the  public."  And 


68  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

somewhat  earlier  he  had  written  with  a  curious  though 
genuine  humility :  — 

"  What  do  I  expect  from  it,  now  it  is  done  ?  And  may  it 
not  be  all  in  vain  and  labour  lost,  after  all  ?  My  expectations 
are  not  such,  if  I  know  myself,  as  to  expose  me  to  any 
serious  disappointment.  I  do  not  flatter  myself  with  the  idea 
that  I  have  achieved  anything  very  profound,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  will  be  very  popular.  I  know  myself  too 
well  to  suppose  the  former  for  a  moment.  I  know  the 
public  too  well,  and  the  subject  I  have  chosen,  to  expect  the 
latter.  But  I  have  made  a  book  illustrating  an  unexplored 
and  important  period,  from  authentic  materials,  obtained 
with  much  difficulty,  and  probably  in  the  possession  of  no 
one  library,  public  or  private,  in  Europe.  As  a  plain,  vera- 
cious record  of  facts,  the  work,  therefore,  till  some  one  else 
shall  be  found  to  make  a  better  one,  will  fill  up  a  gap  in 
literature  which,  I  should  hope,  would  give  it  a  permanent 
value,  —  a  value  founded  on  its  utility,  though  bringing  no 
great  fame  or  gain  to  its  author. 

"  Come  to  the  worst,  and  suppose  the  thing  a  dead  failure, 
and  the  book  born  only  to  be  damned.  Still,  it  will  not  be 
all  in  vain,  since  it  has  encouraged  me  in  forming  systematic 
habits  of  intellectual  occupation,  and  proved  to  me  that  my 
greatest  happiness  is  to  be  the  result  of  such.  It  is  no  little 
matter  to  be  possessed  of  this  conviction  from  experience." 

But  Prescott  had  received  encouragement  in  his 
moods  of  doubt  from  Jared  Sparks,  at  that  time  one 
of  the  most  scientific  American  students  of  history. 
Sparks  had  read  the  book  in  one  of  the  first  printed 
copies,  and  had  written  to  Prescott,  in  February,  1837 : 
"The  book  will  be  successful  —  bought,  read,  and 
praised."  And  so  finally,  on  Christmas  Day  of  1837, 
—  though  dated  1838  upon  the  title-page,  —  the  History 
of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  was  first  offered 
for  sale.  It  was  in  three  volumes  of  about  four  hun- 
dred pages  each,  and  was  dedicated  to  his  father. 


IT.]  SUCCESS  69 

Only  five  hundred  copies  of  the  book  had  been 
printed  as  a  first  edition,  and  of  these  only  a  small 
number  had  been  bound  in  readiness  for  the  day  of 
publication.  The  demand  for  the  book  took  both 
author  and  publishers  by  surprise.  This  demand 
came,  first  of  all,  and  naturally  enough,  from  Prescott's 
personal  friends.  One  of  these,  a  gentleman  of  con- 
vivial habits,  and  by  no  means  given  to  reading,  rose 
early  on  Christmas  morning  and  waited  outside  of  the 
bookshop  in  order  to  secure  the  first  copy  sold.  Lit- 
erary Boston,  which  was  also  fashionable  Boston, 
adopted  the  book  as  its  favourite  New  Year's  present. 
The  bookbinders  could  not  work  fast  enough  to  supply 
the  demand,  and  in  a  few  months  the  whole  of  the 
1250  copies,  which  it  had  been  supposed  would  last 
for  at  least  five  years,  had  been  sold.  Other  parts  of 
the  country  followed  Boston's  lead.  The  book  was 
praised  by  the  newspapers  and,  after  a  little  interval, 
by  the  more  serious  reviews, — the  North  American,  the 
Examiner,  and  the  Democratic  Review,  the  last  of  which 
published  an  elaborate  appreciation  by  George  Bancroft. 

Meanwhile,  Prescott  had  succeeded  in  finding  a 
London  publisher ;  for  in  May,  Mr.  Kichard  Bentley 
accepted  the  book,  and  it  soon  after  appeared  in  Eng- 
land. To  the  English  criticisms  Prescott  naturally 
looked  forward  with  interest  and  something  like  anx- 
iety. American  approval  he  might  well  ascribe  to 
national  bias  if  not  to  personal  friendship.  There- 
fore, the  uniformly  favourable  reviews  in  his  own 
country  could  not  be  accepted  by  him  as  definitely 
fixing  the  value  of  what  he  had  accomplished.  In  a 
letter  to  Ticknor,  after  recounting  his  first  success, 
he  said :  — 


70  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

"  *  Poor  fellow  ! '  —  I  hear  you  exclaim  by  this  time,  — « his 
wits  are  actually  turned  by  this  flurry  in  his  native  village, 
—  the  Yankee  Athens.'  Not  a  whit,  I  assure  you.  Am  I 
not  writing  to  two  dear  friends,  to  whom  I  can  talk  as 
freely  and  foolishly  as  to  one  of  my  own  household,  and 
who,  I  am  sure,  will  not  misunderstand  me?  The  effect 
of  all  this  —  which  a  boy  at  Dr.  Gardiner's  school,  I  re- 
member, called  fungum  popularitatem  —  has  been  rather  to 

depress  me,  and  S was  saying  yesterday,  that  she  had 

never  known  me  so  out  of  spirits  as  since  the  book  has 
come  out." 

What  he  wanted  most  was  to  read  a  thoroughly  im- 
partial estimate  written  by  some  foreign  scholar  of 
distinction.  He  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  the  Athe- 
nceum  there  soon  appeared  a  very  eulogistic  notice, 
written  by  Dr.  Dunham,  an  industrious  student  of 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  history.  Then  followed  an 
admirably  critical  paper  in  the  Edinburgh  fieview  by 
Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  a  distinguished  Spanish 
writer  living  in  England.  Highly  important  among 
the  English  criticisms  was  that  which  was  published  in 
the  Quarterly  Review  of  June,  1839,  from  the  pen  of 
Richard  Ford,  a  very  accurate  and  critical  Spanish 
scholar.  Mr.  Ford  approached  the  book  with  something 
of  the  morgue  of  a  true  British  pundit  when  dealing 
with  the  work  of  an  unknown  American ;  *  but,  none 
the  less,  his  criticism,  in  spite  of  his  reluctance  to 
praise,  gave  Prescott  genuine  pleasure.  Ford  found 
fault  with  some  of  the  details  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, yet  he  was  obliged  to  admit  both  the  sound 
scholarship  and  literary  merit  of  the  book.  On  the 
Continent  appeared  the  most  elaborate  review  of  all 
in  a  series  of  five  articles  written  for  the  Bibliotheque 

i  See  ch.  vii. 


iv.]  SUCCESS  71 

Universelle  de  Geneve,  by  the  Comte  Adolplie  de  Circourt. 
The  Cointe  was  a  friend  of  Lamartine  (who  called  him 
la  mappemonde  vivante  des  connaissances  humaines)  and 
also  of  Tocqueville  and  Cavour.  Few  of  his  contem- 
poraries possessed  so  minute  a  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject which  Prescott  treated,  and  of  the  original  sources 
of  information ;  and  the  favourably  philosophical  tone 
of  the  whole  review  was  a  great  compliment  to  an 
author  hitherto  unknown  in  Europe.  Still  later,  sin- 
cere and  almost  unqualified  praise  was  given  by  Guizot 
in  France,  and  by  Lockhart,  Southey,  Hallam,  and 
Milman,  in  England.  Indeed,  as  Mr.  Ticknor  says, 
although  these  personages  had  never  before  heard  of 
Prescott,  their  spirit  was  almost  as  kindly  as  if  it  had 
been  due  to  personal  friendship.  The  long  years  of 
discouragement,  of  endurance,  and  of  patient,  arduous 
toil  had  at  last  borne  abundant  fruit ;  and  from  the 
time  of  the  appearance  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Pres- 
cott won  and  held  an  international  reputation,  and 
tasted  to  the  full  the  sweets  of  a  deserved  success. 


CHAPTER  V 

IN    MID    CAREER 

AFTER  the  publication  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  its 
author  rested  on  his  oars,  treating  himself  to  social 
relaxation  and  enjoying  thoroughly  the  praise  which 
came  to  him  from  every  quarter.  Of  course  he  had 
no  intention  of  remaining  idle  long,  but  a  new  subject 
did  not  at  once  present  itself  so  clearly  to  him  as  to 
make  his  choice  of  it  inevitable.  For  about  eighteen 
months,  therefore,  he  took  his  ease.  His  correspond- 
ence, however,  shows  that  he  was  always  thinking  of 
a  second  venture  in  the  field  of  historical  composition. 
His  old  bent  for  literary  history  led  him  to  consider 
the  writing  of  a  life  of  Moliere  —  a  book  that  should 
be  agreeable  and  popular  rather  than  profound.  Yet 
Spain  still  kept  its  hold  on  his  imagination,  and  even 
before  his  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  won  its  sure 
success,  he  had  written  in  a  letter  to  Ticknor  the 
following  paragraph :  — 

"  My  heart  is  set  on  a  Spanish  subject,  could  I  compass 
the  materials  :  viz.  the  conquest  of  Mexico  and  the  anterior 
civilisation  of  the  Mexicans — a  beautiful  prose  epic,  for 
which  rich  virgin  materials  teem  in  Simancas  and  Madrid, 
and  probably  in  Mexico.  I  would  give  a  couple  of  thousand 
dollars  that  they  lay  in  a  certain  attic  in  Bedford  Street." 

This  purpose  lingered  in  his  mind  all  through  his 
holidays,  which  were,  indeed,  not  wholly  given  up  to 

72 


CHAP,  v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  73 

idleness,  for  he  listened  to  a  good  deal  of  general 
reading  at  this  time,  most  of  it  by  no  means  of  a 
superficial  character.  Ever  since  his  little  daughter's 
death,  Prescott  had  felt  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  had  read  all 
of  the  most  serious  treatises  to  be  found  upon  that 
subject.  He  had  also  gone  carefully  through  the  Gos- 
pels, weighing  them  with  all  the  acumen  which  he 
had  brought  to  bear  upon  his  Castilian  chronicles. 
This  investigation,  which  he  had  begun  with  reference 
to  the  single  question  of  immortality,  broadened  out 
into  an  examination  of  the  whole  evidential  basis  of 
orthodox  Christianity.  In  this  study  he  was  aided  by 
his  father,  who  brought  to  it  the  keen,  impartial  judg- 
ment of  an  able  lawyer.  Of  the  conclusions  at  which 
he  ultimately  arrived,  he  was  not  wont  to  talk  except 
on  rare  occasions,  and  his  cast  of  mind  was  always 
reverential.  He  did,  however,  reject  the  doctrines  of 
his  Puritan  ancestors.  He  held  fast  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Gospels,  but  he  found  in  these  no  evidence 
to  support  the  tenets  of  Calvinism. 

Now,  in  his  leisure  time,  he  read  over  various  works 
of  a  theological  character,  and  came  to  the  general 
conclusion  that  "the  study  of  polemics  or  Biblical 
critics  will  tend  neither  to  settle  principles  nor  clear 
up  doubts,  but  rather  to  confuse  the  former  and  multi- 
ply the  latter."  Prescott's  whole  religious  creed  was, 
it  fact,  summed  up  by  himself  in  these  words :  "  To 
do  well  and  act  justly,  to  fear  and  to  love  God,  and 
to  love  our  neighbour  as  ourselves  —  in  these  is  the 
essence  of  religion.  For  what  we  can  believe,  we  are 
not  responsible,  supposing  we  examine  candidly  and 
patiently.  For  what  we  do,  we  shall  indeed  be  ac- 


74  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

countable.  The  doctrines  of  the  Saviour  unfold  the 
whole  code  of  morals  by  which  our  conduct  should  be 
regulated.  Who,  then,  whatever  difficulties  he  may 
meet  with  in  particular  incidents  and  opinions  recorded 
in  the  Gospels,  can  hesitate  to  receive  the  great  reli- 
gious and  moral  truths  inculcated  by  the  Saviour  as 
the  words  of  inspiration?  I  cannot,  certainly.  On 
these,  then,  I  will  rest." 

In  April,  1838,  Prescott  took  the  first  step  toward 
beginning  a  study  of  the  Mexican  conquest.  He  wrote 
to  Madrid  in  order  to  discover  what  materials  were 
available  for  his  proposed  researches.  At  the  same 
time  he  began  collecting  such  books  relating  to  Mexico 
as  could  be  obtained  in  London.  Securing  personal 
letters  to  scholars  and  officials  in  Mexico  itself,  he 
wrote  to  them  to  enlist  their  interest  in  his  new  under- 
taking. By  the  end  of  the  year  it  became  evident  that 
the  wealth  of  material  bearing  upon  the  Conquest  was 
very  great,  and  a  knowledge  of  this  fact  roused  in 
Prescott  all  the  enthusiasm  of  an  historical  investi- 
gator who  has  scented  a  new  and  promising  trail. 
Only  one  thing  now  stood  in  the  way.  This  was  an 
intimation  to  the  effect  that  Washington  Irving  had 
already  planned  a  similar  piece  of  work.  This  bit 
of  news  was  imparted  to  Prescott  by  Mr.  J.  G-. 
Cogswell,  who  was  then  in  charge  of  the  Astor  Library 
in  New  York,  and  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  both 
Prescott  and  Irving.  Mr.  Cogswell  told  Prescott  that 
Irving  was  intending  to  write  a  history  of  the  conquest 
of  Mexico,  as  a  sort  of  sequel,  or  rather  pendant,  to 
his  life  of  Columbus.  Of  course,  under  the  circum- 
stances, Prescott  felt  that,  in  courtesy  to  one  who  was 
then  the  most  distinguished  American  man  of  letters, 


v.]  IN  MID   CAREER  75 

he  could  not  proceed  with  his  undertaking  so  long  as 
Mr.  Irving  was  in  the  field.  He  therefore  wrote  a  long 
letter  to  Irving,  detailing  what  he  had  already  done 
toward  acquiring  material,  and  to  say  that  Mr. 
Cogswell  had  intimated  that  Irving  was  willing  to 
relinquish  the  subject  in  his  favour. 

"  I  have  learned  from  Mr.  Cogswell  that  you  had  origi- 
nally* proposed  to  treat  the  same  subject,  and  that  you 
requested  him  to  say  to  me  that  you  should  relinquish 
it  in  my  favour.  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  to  you  my 
sense  of  your  courtesy,  which  I  can  very  well  appreciate,  as 
I  know  the  mortification  it  would  have  caused  me  if,  con- 
trary to  my  expectations,  1  had  found  you  on  the  ground. 
...  I  fear  the  public  will  not  feel  so  much  pleased  as  my- 
self by  this  liberal  conduct  on  your  part,  and  I  am  not  sure 
that  I  should  have  a  right  in  their  eyes  to  avail  myself  of 
it.  But  I  trust  you  will  think  differently  when  I  accept 
your  proffered  courtesy  in  the  same  cordial  spirit  in  which 
it  was  given." 

To  this  letter  Irving  made  a  long  and  courteous 
reply,  not  only  assuring  Fresco tt  that  the  subject 
would  be  willingly  abandoned  to  him,  but  offering  to 
send  him  any  books  that  might  be  useful  and  to  ren- 
der any  service  in  his  power.  The  episode  affords 
a  beautiful  instance  of  literary  and  scholarly  ameni- 
ties. The  sacrifice  which  Irving  made  in  giving  up 
his  theme  was  as  fine  as  the  manner  of  it  was  graceful. 
Prescott  never  knew  how  much  it  meant  to  Irving, 
who  had  already  not  only  made  some  study  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  had  sketched  out  the  ground-plan  of  the 
first  volume,  and  had  been  actually  at  work  upon  the 
task  of  composition  for  a  period  of  three  months. 
But  there  was  something  more  in  it  than  this.  Writ- 
ing to  his  nephew,  Pierre  Irving,  who  was  afterward 


76  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

his  biographer,  he  disclosed  his  real  feeling  with  much 
frankness. 

"  I  doubt  whether  Mr.  Prescott  was  aware  of  the  extent 
of  the  sacrifice  I  made.  This  was  a  favourite  subject  which 
had  delighted  my  imagination  ever  since  I  was  a  boy.  I 
had  brought  home  books  from  Spain  to  aid  me  in  it,  and 
looked  upon  it  as  the  pendant  to  my  Columbus.  When  I 
gave  it  up  to  him  I,  in  a  manner,  gave  him  up  my  bread ; 
for  I  depended  upon  the  profits  of  it  to  recruit  my  waning 
finances.  I  had  no  other  subject  at  hand  to  supply  its 
place.  I  was  dismounted  from  my  cheval  de  bataille  and 
have  never  been  completely  mounted  since.  Had  I  accom- 
plished that  work  my  whole  pecuniary  situation  would  have 
been  altered." 1 

There  was  no  longer  any  obstacle  in  Prescott's  way, 
and  he  set  to  work  with  an  interest  which  grew  as  the 
richness  of  the  material  revealed  itself.  There  came 
to  him  from  Madrid,  books,  manuscripts,  copies  of  offi- 
cial documents,  and  all  the  apparatus  cnticus  which 
even  the  most  exacting  scholar  could  require.  The 
distinguished  historian,  Navarrete,  placed  his  entire 
collection  of  manuscripts  relating  to  Mexico  and  Peru 
at  the  disposal  of  his  American  confrere.  The  Spanish 
Academy  let  him  have  copies  of  the  collections  made 
by  Munoz  and  by  Vargas  y  Ponce  —  a  matter  of  some 
five  thousand  pages.  Prescott's  friend,  Seiior  Calde- 
ron,  who  at  this  time  was  Spanish  Minister  to  Mexico, 
aided  him  in  gathering  materials  relating  to  the 
early  Aztec  civilisation.  Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos, 
who  had  written  the  favourable  notice  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Review,  delved  among  the  documents  in  the 
British  Museum  on  behalf  of  Prescott,  and  caused 
copies  to  be  made  of  whatever  seemed  to  bear  upon 

iLife  of  Irving,  Hi.  p.  133  (New  York,  1863). 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  77 

the  Mexican  conquest.  A  year  or  two  later,  he  even 
sent  to  Prescott  the  whole  of  his  own  collection  of 
manuscripts.  In  Spain  very  valuable  assistance  was 
given  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Everett,  at  that  time  American 
Minister  to  the  Spanish  court,  and  by  his  first  Secre- 
tary of  Legation,  the  South  Carolinian  who  had  taken 
his  entrance  examination  to  Harvard  in  Prescott's 
company,  and  who  throughout  his  college  life  had 
been  a  close  and  valued  friend.  A  special  agent,  Dr. 
Lembke,1  was  also  employed,  and  he  gave  a  good  part 
of  his  time  to  rummaging  among  the  archives  and  libra- 
ries. Prescott's  authorship  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
however,  was  the  real  touchstone  which  opened  all 
doors  to  him,  and  enlisted  in  his  service  enthusiastic 
purveyors  of  material  in  every  quarter.  In  Spain 
especially,  the  prestige  of  his  name  was  very  great ; 
and  more  than  one  traveller  from  Boston  received  dis- 
tinguished courtesies  in  that  country  as  being  the 
conciudadano  of  the  American  historian.  Mr.  Edward 
Everett  Hale,  whose  acquaintance  with  Prescott  was 
very  slight,  relates  an  experience  which  is  quite 
illustrative :  — 

"  I  had  gone  there  [to  Madrid]  to  make  some  studies  and 
collect  some  books  for  the  history  of  the  Pacific,  which,  with 
a  prophetic  instinct,  I  have  always  wanted  to  write.  Dif- 
ferent friends  gave  me  letters  of  introduction,  and  among 

1  Lembke  was  a  German,  the  author  of  a  work  on  early  Spanish 
history,  and  a  member  of  the  Spanish  Historical  Academy.  Pres- 
cott mentions  him  in  his  letter  to  Irving.  "  This  learned  Theban 
happens  to  be  in  Madrid  for  the  nonce,  pursuing  some  investiga- 
tions of  his  own,  and  he  has  taken  charge  of  mine,  like  a  true  Ger- 
man, inspecting  everything  and  selecting  just  what  has  reference 
to  my  subject.  In  this  way  he  has  been  employed  with  four  copy- 
ists since  July,  and  has  amassed  a  quantity  of  unpublished  docu- 
ments. He  has  already  sent  off  two  boxes  to  Cadi?," 


78  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

others  the  gentlemen  of  the  Spanish  Embassy  here  were 
very  kind  to  me.  They  gave  me  four  such  letters,  and  when 
I  was  in  Madrid  and  when  I  was  in  Seville  it  seemed  as 
though  every  door  flew  open  for  me  and  every  facility  was 
offered  me.  It  was  not  until  I  was  at  home  again  that  I 
came  to  know  the  secret  of  these  most  diligent  civilities. 
I  still  had  one  of  my  Embassy  letters  which  I  had  never 
presented.  I  read  it  for  the  first  time,  to  learn  that  I  was 
the  coadjutor  and  friend  of  the  great  historian  Prescott 
through  all  his  life,  that  I  was  his  assistant  through  all  his 
historical  work,  and,  indeed,  for  these  reasons,  no  American 
was  more  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  gentlemen  in 
charge  of  the  Spanish  archives.  It  was  certainly  by  no 
fault  of  mine  that  an  exaggeration  so  stupendous  had  found 
its  way  to  the  Spanish  Legation.  Somebody  had  said,  what 
was  true,  that  Prescott  was  always  good  to  me,  and  that  our 
friendship  began  when  he  engaged  me  as  his  reader.  And, 
what  with  translating  this  simple  story,  what  with  people's 
listening  rather  carelessly  and  remembering  rather  carelessly, 
by  the  time  my  letters  were  drafted  I  had  become  a  sort  of 
1  double '  of  Mr.  Prescott  himself.  I  hope  that  I  shall  never 
hear  that  I  disgraced  him." 1 

Actual  work  upon  the  Conquest  began  early  in  1839, 
though  not  at  first  with  a  degree  of  progress  which 
was  satisfactory  to  the  investigator.  By  May,  how- 
ever, he  had  warmed  to  his  work.  He  went  back  to 
his  old  rigorous  regime,  giving  up  again  all  social 
pleasures  outside  of  his  own  house,  and  spending 
in  his  library  at  least  five  hours  each  day.  His 
period  of  rest  had  done  him  good,  and  his  eyesight 
was  now  better  than  at  any  time  since  it  first  became 
impaired.  After  three  months  of  preliminary  reading 
he  was  able  to  sketch  out  the  plan  of  the  entire  work, 
and  on  October  14,  1839,  he  began  the  actual  task  of 
composition.  He  found  the  introduction  extremely 

1  Hale,  Memories  of  a  Hundred  Tears,  ii.  pp.  71,  72  (New  York, 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  79 

difficult  to  write,  for  it  dealt  with  the  pre-historic 
period  of  Mexico,  obscured  as  it  was  by  the  mist  of 
myth  and  by  the  contradictory  assertions  of  conflict- 
ing authorities.  "  The  whole  of  that  part  of  the 
story,"  wrote  Prescott,  "  is  in  twilight,  and  I  fear  I 
shall  at  least  make  only  moonshine  of  it.  I  must 
hope  that  it  will  be  good  moonshine.  It  will  go  hard 
with  me,  however,  but  that  I  can  fish  something  new 
out  of  my  ocean  of  manuscripts."  He  had  hoped  to 
dispose  of  his  introduction  in  a  hundred  pages,  and  to 
finish  it  in  six  months  at  the  most.  It  actually  ex- 
tended to  two  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  and  the  writing 
of  it  took  nearly  eighteen  months.  One  interruption 
occurred  which  he  had  not  anticipated.  The  success  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  tempted  an  unscrupulous 
publisher  to  undertake  an  abridgment  of  that  book. 
To  protect  his  own  interests  Prescott  decided  to  make 
an  abridgment  of  his  own,  and  thus  to  forestall  the 
pirate.  This  work  disheartened  and  depressed  him, 
but  he  finished  it  with  great  celerity,  only  to  find  that 
the  rival  abridgment  had  been  given  up.  A  brief  stay 
upon  the  sea-coast  put  him  once  more  into  working  con- 
dition, and  from  that  time  he  went  on  steadily  with  the 
Conquest,  which  he  completed  on  August  2,  1843,  not 
quite  four  years  from  the  time  when  he  began  the 
actual  composition.  His  weariness  was  lightened  by 
the  confidence  which  he  felt  in  his  own  success.  He 
knew  that  he  had  produced  a  masterpiece. 

Naturally,  he  now  had  no  trouble  in  securing  a  pub- 
lisher and  in  making  very  advantageous  terms  for  the 
production  of  the  book.  It  was  brought  out  by  the 
Harpers  of  New  York,  though,  as  before,  Prescott 
himself  owned  the  plates.  His  contract  allowed  the 


60  WILLIAM  HIGGLING  PRESCOTT       [CHAP. 

Harpers  to  publish  five  thousand  copies  for  which 
they  paid  the  author  $7500,  with  the  right  of  publish- 
ing more  copies  if  required  within  the  period  of  one 
year  and  on  the  same  general  terms.  An  English 
edition  was  simultaneously  brought  out  by  Bentley  in 
London,  who  purchased  the  foreign  copyright  for  £650. 
Three  Spanish  translations  appeared  soon  after,  one  in 
Madrid  in  1847  and  two  in  Mexico  in  1844.  A  French 
translation  was  published  in  Paris,  by  Didot  in  1846, 
and  a  German  translation,  in  Leipzig,  by  Brockhaus  in 
1845.  A  French  reprint  in  English  appeared  in  Paris 
soon  after  Bentley  placed  the  London  edition  upon  the 
market. 

No  historical  work  written  by  an  American  has  ever 
been  received  with  so  much  enthusiasm  alike  in  Amer- 
ica and  in  Europe.  Within  a  month,  four  thousand 
copies  were  disposed  of  by  the  Harpers,  and  at  the 
end  of  four  months  the  original  edition  of  five  thou- 
sand had  been  sold.  The  reviewers  were  unanimous 
in  its  praise,  and  an  avalanche  of  congratulatory  letters 
descended  upon  Prescott  from  admirers,  known  and 
unknown,  all  over  the  civilised  world.  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  had  brought  him  reputation ;  the  Conquest  of 
Mexico  made  him  famous.  Honours  came  to  him  un- 
sought. He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  French 
Institute1  and  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Berlin.  He 
had  already  accepted  membership  in  the  Royal  Span- 
ish Academy  of  History  at  Madrid  and  in  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  Naples.  Harvard  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  Perhaps 
nothing  pleased  him  more,  however,  than  a  personal 

1  In  place  of  Navarrete,  deceased.  Prescott  received  eighteen 
ballots  out  of  the  twenty  that  were  cast. 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  81 

letter  from  Humboldt,  for  whom  Prescott  had  long  en- 
tertained a  feeling  of  deep  admiration.  This  eminent 
scholar,  at  that  time  the  President  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Berlin,  in  which  body  Niebuhr,  Von  Raumer,  and 
R/anke  had  been  enrolled,  wrote  in  French  a  letter  of 
which  the  following  sentences  form  a  part :  — 

"  My  satisfaction  has  been  very  great  in  studying  line  by 
line  your  excellent  work.  One  judges  with  severity,  with 
perhaps  a  bias  towards  injustice,  when  he  has  had  a  vivid 
impression  of  the  places,  and  when  the  study  of  ancient  his- 
tory with  which  I  have  been  occupied  from  preference  has 
been  pursued  on  the  very  soil  itself  where  a  part  of  these 
great  events  took  place.  My  severity,  sir,  has  been  disarmed 
by  the  reading  of  your  Conquest  of  Mexico.  You  paint  with 
success,  because  you  have  seen  with  the  eyes  of  the  spirit  and 
of  the  inner  sense.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me,  a  citizen  of  Mexico, 
to  have  lived  long  enough  to  read  you  and  to  speak  to  you 
of  my  appreciation  of  the  kind  expressions  with  which  you 
have  done  honour  to  my  name.  .  .  .  Were  I  not  wholly 
occupied  with  my  Cosmos,  which  I  have  had  the  imprudence 
to  print,  I  should  have  wished  to  translate  your  work  into 
the  language  of  my  own  country." 

While  gathering  the  materials  for  the  Conquest  of 
Mexico,  Prescott  had  felt  his  way  toward  still  another 
subject  which  his  Mexican  researches  naturally  sug- 
gested. This  was  the  conquest  of  Peru.  Much  of  his 
Mexican  reading  had  borne  directly  upon  this  other 
theme,  so  that  the  labour  of  preparation  was  greatly 
lightened.  Moreover,  by  this  time,  he  had  acquired 
both  an  accurate  knowledge  of  sources  and  also  great 
facility  in  composition.  Hence  the  only  serious  work 
which  was  necessary  for  him  to  undertake  as  a  pre- 
liminary to  composition  was  the  study  of  Peruvian 
antiquities.  This  occupied  him  eight  months,  and 
proved  to  be  far  more  troublesome  to  him  and  much 
o 


82  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

less  satisfactory  than  the  like  investigation  which  he 
had  made  with  reference  to  the  Aztecs.  However, 
after  the  work  had  been  commenced  it  proceeded 
rapidly,  —  so  rapidly,  in  fact,  as  to  cause  him  a  feel- 
ing of  half -comical  dismay.  He  began  to  write  on 
the  12th  of  August,  1844,  and  completed  his  task  on 
November  7,  1846.  During  its  progress  he  made  a 
note  that  he  had  written  two  chapters,  amounting  in 
all  to  fifty-one  printed  pages,  in  four  days,  adding  the 
comment,  "  I  never  did  up  so  much  yarn  in  the  same 
time.  At  this  rate  Peru  will  not  hold  out  six  months. 
Can  I  finish  it  in  a  year  ?  Alas  for  the  reader ! "  No 
doubt  he  might  have  finished  it  in  a  year  had  certain 
interruptions  not  occurred.  The  first  of  these  was  the 
death  of  his  father,  which  took  place  on  December  8th, 
not  long  after  he  had  begun  the  book.  His  brother  Ed- 
ward had  died  shortly  before,  and  this  double  affliction 
affected  very  deeply  so  sensitive  a  nature  as  Prescott's. 
To  his  father,  indeed,  he  owed  more  than  he  could  ever 
express.  The  two  had  been  true  comrades,  and  had 
treated  one  another  with  an  affectionate  familiarity 
which,  between  father  and  son,  was  as  rare  in  those 
days  as  it  was  beautiful.  Judge  Prescott's  generosity 
had  made  it  possible  for  the  younger  man  to  break 
through  all  the  barriers  of  physical  infirmity,  and  not 
only  to  win  fame  but  also  the  happiness  which  comes 
from  a  creative  activity.  They  understood  each  other 
very  well,  and  in  many  points  they  were  much  alike 
both  in  their  friendliness  and  in  their  habits  of  reserve. 
One  little  circumstance  illustrates  this  likeness  rather 
curiously.  Fond  as  both  of  them  were  of  their  fellows, 
and  cordial  as  they  both  were  to  all  their  friends,  each 
wished  at  times  to  be  alone,  and  these  times  were 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  83 

when  they  walked  or  rode.  Therefore,  each  morning 
when  the  two  men  mounted  their  horses  or  when  they 
set  out  for  a  walk,  they  always  parted  company  when 
they  reached  the  road,  one  turning  to  the  right  and  the 
other  to  the  left  by  a  tacit  understanding,  and  neither 
ever  thought  of  accompanying  the  other.  Sometimes 
a  friend  not  knowing  of  this  trait  would  join  one  of 
them  to  share  the  ride  or  walk.  Whenever  such  a 
thing  as  this  took  place,  that  particular  route  would  be 
abandoned  the  next  day  and  another  and  a  lonelier 
one  selected. 

A  further  interruption  came  from  the  purchase 
of  a  house  on  Beacon  Street  and  the  necessity  of 
arranging  to  leave  the  old  mansion  on  Bedford  Street. 
The  new  house  was  a  fine  one,  overlooking  the  Mall 
and  the  Common;  and  the  new  library,  which  was 
planned  especially  for  Prescott's  needs,  was  much 
more  commodious  than  the  old  one.  But  the  confusion 
find  feeling  of  unsettlement  attendant  on  the  change 
distracted  Prescott  more  than  it  would  have  done  a 
man  less  habituated  to  a  self-imposed  routine.  "A 
month  of  pandemonium,"  he  wrote ;  "  an  unfurnished 
house  coming  to  order ;  a  library  without  books ;  books 
without  time  to  open  them."  It  took  Prescott  quite 
a  while  to  resume  his  methodical  habits.  His  old-time 
indolence  settled  down  upon  him,  and  it  was  some 
time  before  his  literary  momentum  had  been  recov- 
ered. Moreover,  he  presumed  upon  the  fairly  satis- 
factory condition  of  his  eye  and  used  it  to  excess. 
The  result  was  that  his  optic  nerve  was  badly  over- 
taxed, "  probably  by  manuscript  digging/'  as  he  said. 
The  strain  was  one  from  which  his  eye  never  fully 
recovered ;  and  from  this  time  until  the  completion  of 


84  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

the  Peru,  he  could  use  it  in  reading  for  only  a  few 
minutes  every  day,  sometimes  perhaps  for  ten  or  fif- 
teen, but  never  for  more  than  thirty.  As  this  is  the 
last  time  that  we  shall  mention  this  subject,  it  may  be 
said  that  for  all  purposes  of  literary  work  Prescott  was 
soon  afterward  reduced  to  the  position  of  one  who  was 
actually  blind.  What  had  before  been  a  merely  station- 
ary dimness  of  vision  became  a  slowly  progressive 
decay  of  sight,  or,  to  express  it  in  medical  language, 
amblyopia  had  passed  into  amaurosis.  He  followed 
rigorously  his  oculist's  injunctions,  but  in  the  end  he 
had  to  face  the  facts  unflinchingly ;  and  a  little  later 
he  recorded  his  determination  to  give  up  all  use  of  the 
eye  for  the  future  in  his  studies,  and  to  be  contented 
with  preserving  it  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  life. 
The  necessity  disheartened  him.  "  It  takes  the  strength 
out  of  me,"  he  said.  Nevertheless,  neither  this  nor 
the  fact  that  his  general  health  was  most  unsatisfac- 
tory, caused  him  to  abandon  work.  He  could  not  bring 
himself  to  use  what  he  called  "the  coward's  word, 
'  impossible.' "  And  so,  after  a  little  time,  he  went  on 
as  before,  studying  "by  ear-work,"  and  turning  off 
upon  his  noctograph  from  ten  to  fifteen  pages  every 
day.  He  continued  also  his  outdoor  exercise,  and,  in 
fact,  one  of  the  best-written  chapters  of  the  Conquest 
of  Peru  —  the  last  one  —  was  composed  while  gallop- 
ing through  the  woods  at  Pepperell.  On  November  7, 
1846,  the  Conquest  of  Peru  was  finished.  Like  the 
preceding  history,  it  was  published  by  the  Harper 
Brothers,  who  agreed  to  pay  the  author  one-  dollar  per 
copy  and  to  bring  out  a  first  edition  of  seventy-five 
hundred  copies.  This,  Mr.  Ticknor  says,  was  a  more 
liberal  arrangement  than  had  ever  before  been  made 


T.]  IN  MID  CAREER  85 

with  an  historical  writer  in  the  United  States.  The 
English  copyright  was  purchased  by  Bentley  for  £800. 
Prescott's  main  anxiety  about  the  reception  which 
would  be  given  to  the  Conquest  of  Peru  was  based 
upon  his  doubts  as  to  its  literary  style.  Neither 
of  his  other  books  had  been  written  so  rapidly,  and 
he  feared  that  he  might  incur  the  charge  of  over- 
fluency  or  even  slovenliness.  Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  chorus  of  praise  which  greeted  the  two  volumes 
was  as  loud  and  as  spontaneous  as  it  had  been  over  his 
Mexico.  Prescott  now  stood  so  firmly  on  his  feet  as 
to  look  at  much  of  this  praise  in  a  somewhat  humor- 
ous light.  The  approbation  of  the  Edinburgh  Review 
no  longer  seemed  to  him  the  summa  laus,  though  he 
valued  it  more  highly  than  the  praise  given  him  by 
American  periodicals,  of  which  he  wrote  very  shrewdly: 

"  I  don't  know  how  it  is,  but  our  critics,  though  not  pedan- 
tic, have  not  the  businesslike  air,  or  the  air  of  the  man  of  the 
world,  which  gives  manliness  and  significance  to  criticism. 
Their  satire,  when  they  attempt  it  —  which  cannot  be  often 
laid  to  their  door  —  has  neither  the  fine  edge  of  the  Edinburgh 
nor  the  sledgehammer  stroke  of  the  Quarterly.  They  twad- 
dle out  their  humour  as  if  they  were  afraid  of  its  biting 
too  hard,  or  else  they  deliver  axioms  with  a  sort  of  smart, 
dapper  conceit,  like  a  little  parson  laying  down  the  law  to 
his  little  people.  ...  In  England  there  is  a  far  greater 
number  of  men  highly  cultivated  —  whether  in  public  life 
or  men  of  leisure  —  whose  intimacy  with  affairs  and  with 
society,  as  well  as  books,  affords  supplies  of  a  high  order  for 
periodical  criticism." 

As  for  newspaper  eulogies,  he  remarked :  "  I  am 
certainly  the  cause  of  some  wit  and  much  folly  in 
others."  His  latest  work,  however,  brought  him  two 
new  honours  which  he  greatly  prized,  —  an  election 


86  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

to  the  Koyal  English  Society  of  Literature,  and  the 
other  an  invitation  to  membership  in  the  Royal  Society 
of  Antiquaries.  The  former  honour  he  shared  with 
only  one  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  Bancroft ;  the  lat- 
ter had  heretofore  been  given  to  no  American. 

Prescott  now  indulged  himself  with  a  long  period 
of  "literary  loafing,"  as  he  described  it,  broken  in 
upon  only  by  the  preparation  of  a  short  memoir  of 
John  Pickering,  the  antiquarian  and  scholar,  who  had 
been  one  of  Prescott's  most  devoted  friends.  This 
memoir  was  undertaken  at  the  request  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society.  It  has  no  general  interest 
now,  but  is  worthy  of  note  as  having  been  the  only  one 
of  Prescott's  works  which  he  dictated  to  an  amanuen- 
sis. Prescott  had  an  aversion  to  writing  in  this  way, 
although  he  had  before  him  the  example  of  his  blind 
contemporary,  Thierry.  Like  Alphonse  Daudet,  he. 
seems  to  have  felt  that  what  is  written  by  hand  comes 
more  directly  from  the  author's  inner  self,  and  that 
it  represents  most  truly  the  tints  and  half-tones  of  his 
personality.  That  this  is  only  a  fancy  is  seen  clearly 
enough  from  several  striking  instances  which  the  his- 
tory of  literature  records.  Scott  dictated  to  Lockhart 
the  whole  of  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor.  Thackeray 
dictated  a  good  part  of  The  Newcomes  and  all  of  Pen- 
dennis,  and  even  Henry  Esmond,  of  which  the  artificial 
style  might  well  have  made  dictation  difficult.  Pres- 
cott, however,  had  his  own  opinion  on  the  subject,  and, 
with  the  single  exception  which  has  just  been  cited,  he 
used  his  noctograph  for  composition  down  to  the  very 
end,  dictating  only  his  correspondence  to  his  secretary. 

His  days  of  "literary  loafing"  allowed  him  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  friendship  which  during  his  periods 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  87 

of  work  were  necessarily,  to  some  extent,  intermitted. 
No  man  ever  had  more  cordially  devoted  friends  than 
Prescott.  He  knew  every  one  who  was  worth  knowing, 
and  every  one  was  attracted  by  the  spontaneous  charm 
of  his  manner  and  his  invincible  kindliness.  Never 
was  a  man  more  free  from  petulance  or  peevishness, 
though  these  defects  at  times  might  well  have  been 
excused  in  one  whose  health  was  such  as  his.  He 
presented  the  anomaly  of  a  dyspeptic  who  was  still  an 
optimist  and  always  amiable.  Mr.  John  Foster  Kirk, 
who  was  one  of  his  secretaries,  wrote  of  him :  — 

"  No  annoyance,  great  or  small,  the  most  painful  illness 
or  the  most  intolerable  bore,  could  disturb  his  equanimity, 
or  render  him  in  the  least  degree  sullen,  or  fretful,  or  dis- 
court&ms.  He  was  always  gay,  good-humoured,  and  manly. 
He  carried  his  kindness  of  disposition  not  only  into  his 
public,  but  into  his  private,  writings.  In  the  hundreds  of 
letters,  many  of  them  of  the  most  confidential  character, 
treating  freely  of  other  authors  and  of  a  great  variety  of  per- 
sons, which  I  wrote  at  his  dictation,  not  a  single  unkind  or 
harsh  or  sneering  expression  occurs.  He  was  totally  free 
from  the  jealousy  and  envy  so  common  among  authors,  and 
was  always  eager  in  conversation,  as  in  print,  to  point  out 
the  merits  of  the  great  contemporary  historians  whom  many 
men  in  his  position  would  have  looked  upon  as  rivals  to  be 
dreaded  if  not  detested." 

Bancroft  the  historian  has  added  his  testimony  to 
the  greatness  of  Prescott's  personal  charm. 

"  His  countenance  had  something  that  brought  to  mind 
the  *  beautiful  disdain '  that  hovers  on  that  of  the  Apollo. 
But  while  he  was  high-spirited,  he  was  tender  and  gentle 
and  humane.  His  voice  was  like  music  and  one  could  never 
hear  enough  of  it.  His  cheerfulness  reached  and  animated 
all  about  him.  He  could  indulge  in  playfulness  and  could 
also  speak  earnestly  and  profoundly ;  but  he  knew  not  how 
to  be  ungracious  or  pedantic." 


88  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

No  wonder  then  that  his  friends  were  legion,  com- 
prising men  and  women  of  the  most  different  types. 
Dry  and  formal  scholars  such  as  Jared  Sparks ;  men 
of  the  world  like  Lord  Carlisle;  nice  old  ladies  like 
Maria  Edgeworth  and  the  octogenarian  Miss  Berry, 
Walpole's  friend ;  women  of  fashion  like  Lady  Lyell, 
Lady  Mary  Labouchere,  and  the  Duchess  of  Suther- 
land; Spanish  hidalgos  like  Calderon  de  la  Barca; 
smooth  politicians  like  Caleb  Gushing;  and  intense 
partisans  like  Charles  Sumner,  — -  all  agreed  in  their 
affectionate  admiration  for  Prescott.  His  friendship 
with  Sumner  was  indeed  quite  notable,  since  no  men 
could  have  been  more  utterly  unlike.  Sumner  was 
devoid  of  the  slightest  gleam  of  humour,  and  his  self- 
consciousness  was  extreme ;  yet  Prescott  sometimes 
poked  fun  at  him  with  impunity.  Thus,  writing  to 
Sumner  about  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration  (delivered 
in  1846),  he  said :  — 

"  Last  year  you  condemned  wars  in  toto,  making  no  excep. 
tion  even  for  the  wars  of  freedom.  This  year  you  condemn 
the  representation  of  war,  whether  by  the  pencil  or  the  pen. 
Marathon,  Salamis,  Bunker  Hill,  the  retreat  from  Moscow, 
Waterloo,  great  and  small,  are  all  to  be  blotted  from  mem- 
ory equally  with  my  own  wild  skirmishes  of  barbarians  and 
banditti.  Lord  deliver  us  1  Where  will  you  bring  up  ?  If 
the  stories  are  not  to  be  painted  or  written,  such  records  of 
them  as  have  been  heedlessly  made  should  by  the  same  rule 
be  destroyed.  I  laugh ;  but  I  fear  you  will  make  the  judicious 
grieve.  But  fare  thee  well,  dear  Sumner.  Whether  thou  de- 
portest  thyself  sana  mente  or  mente  insana,  believe  me  always 
truly  yours." 

But  Sumner's  arrogance  and  egoism  were  always  in 
abeyance  where  Prescott  was  concerned,  and  even  their 
lack  of  political  sympathy  never  marred  the  warmth 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  89 

of  their  intercourse.  Prescott,  in  fact,  cared  very  little 
about  contemporary  politics.  He  had  inherited  from 
his  fighting  ancestors  a  sturdy  patriotism,  but  his  loy- 
alty was  given  to  the  whole  country  and  not  to  any 
faction  or  party.  His  cast  of  mind  was  essentially 
conservative,  and  down  to  1856  he  would  no  doubt 
have  called  himself  an  old-line  Whig.  He  was  always, 
however,  averse  to  political  discussion  which,  indeed, 
led  easily  to  personalities  that  were  offensive  not  only 
to  Prescott's  taste  but  to  his  amiable  disposition.  His 
friend  Parsons  said  of  him:  "He  never  sought  or 
originated  political  conversation,  but  he  would  not  de- 
cline contributing  his  share  to  it;  and  the  contribu- 
tion he  made  was  always  of  good  sense,  of  moderation, 
and  of  forbearance." 

Prescott's  detachment  with  regard  to  politics  was 
partly  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  nature  of  the  life  he  led, 
which  kept  him  isolated  from  the  bustle  of  the  world 
about  him ;  yet  it  was  probably  due  still  more  to  a 
lack  of  combativeness  in  his  nature.  Motley  once 
said  of  him  that  he  lacked  the  capacity  for  sceva 
indignatio.  This  remark  was  called  forth  by  Pres- 
cott's tolerant  view  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  who  was 
in  Motley's  eyes  little  better  than  a  monster.  One 
might  fairly,  however,  give  it  a  wider  application,  and 
we  must  regard  it  as  an  undeniable  defect  in  Prescott 
that  nothing  external  could  strike  fire  from  him. 
Thus,  when  his  intimate  friend  Sumner  had  been 
brutally  assaulted  in  the  Senate  chamber  by  the 
Southern  bully,  Brooks,  Prescott  wrote  to  him :  "  You 
have  escaped  the  crown  of  martyrdom  by  a  narrow 
chance,  and  have  got  all  the  honours,  which  are 
almost  as  dangerous  to  one's  head  as  a  gutta-percha 


90  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 


one  would  scarcely  notice  had  Sumner  merely  received 
a  black  eye,  but  which  offends  one's  sense  of  fitness 
when  we  recall  that  Sumner  had  been  beaten  into 
insensibility,  and  that  he  never  fully  recovered  from 
the  attack.  Again,  when,  in  1854,  Boston  was  all 
ablaze  over  the  capture  of  a  fugitive  slave,  when  the 
city  was  filled  with  troops  and  muskets  were  levelled 
at  the  populace,  Prescott  merely  remarked  to  an 
English  correspondent:  "It  is  a  disagreeable  busi- 
ness." To  be  sure,  he  also  said,  "  It  made  my  blood 
boil,"  but  the  general  tone  of  the  letter  shows  that  his 
blood  must  have  boiled  at  a  very  low  temperature. 
Nevertheless,  he  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  stirred 
by  the  exciting  struggle  which  took  place  over  Kansas 
between  the  Free-Soil  forces  and  the  partisans  of  slav- 
ery. Hence,  in  1856,  he  cast  his  vote  for  Fremont, 
the  first  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
But,  as  a  rule,  the  politics  of  the  sixteenth  century 
were  his  most  serious  concern,  and  in  the  very  year  in 
which  he  voted  for  Fre'mont,  he  wrote:  "I  belong  to 
the  sixteenth  century  and  am  quite  out  of  place  when  I 
sleep  elsewhere."  It  was  this  feeling  which  led  him 
to  decline  a  tempting  invitation  to  write  a  history 
of  the  modern  conquest  of  Mexico  by  the  American 
army  under  General  Scott.  The  offer  came  to  him 
in  1847 ;  and  both  the  theme  itself  and  the  terms  in 
which  the  offer  was  made  might  well  have  attracted 
one  whose  face  was  set  less  resolutely  toward  the 
historic  past.  His  comment  was  characteristic.  "  I 
had  rather  not  meddle  with  heroes  who  have  not 
been  under  ground  two  centuries  at  least."  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  subject  which  Prescott 


r.]  IN  MID  CAREER  91 

then  rejected  has  never  been  adequately  treated ;  and 
that  the  brilliant  exploits  of  Scott  in  Mexico  still  await 
a  worthy  chronicler. 

It  was  natural  that  a  writer  so  popular  as  Prescott 
should,  in  spite  of  his  methodical  life,  find  his  time 
encroached  upon  by  those  who  wished  to  meet  him. 
He  had  an  instinct  for  hospitality ;  and  this  made  it 
the  more  difficult  for  him  to  maintain  that  scholarly 
seclusion  which  had  been  easy  to  him  in  the  days  of 
his  comparative  obscurity.  His  personal  friends  were 
numerous,  and  there  were  many  others  who  sought 
him  out  because  of  his  distinction.  Many  foreign 
visitors  were  entertained  by  him,  and  these  he  re- 
ceived with  genuine  pleasure.  Their  number  increased 
as  the  years  went  by  so  that  once  in  a  single  week  he 
entertained,  at  Pepperell,  Senor  Calderon,  Stephens  the 
Central  American  traveller,  and  the  British  General 
Harlan  from  Afghanistan.  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  Lady 
Lyell,  Lord  Carlisle,  and  Dickens  were  also  visitors  of 
his.  It  was  as  the  guest  of  Prescott  that  Thackeray  ate 
his  first  dinner  in  America.1  Visitors  of  this  sort,  of 
course,  he  was  very  glad  to  see.  Not  so  much  could  be 
said  of  the  strangers  who  forced  themselves  upon  him 
at  Nahant,  where  swarms  of  summer  idlers  filled  the 
hotels  and  cottages,  and  with  well-meaning  but  thought- 
less interest  sought  out  the  historian  in  the  darkened 
parlour  of  his  house.  "  I  have  lost  a  clear  month  here 
by  company,"  he  wrote  in  1840,  "  company  which  brings 
the  worst  of  all  satieties ;  for  the  satiety  from  study 
brings  the  consciousness  of  improvement.  But  this 
dissipation  impairs  health,  spirit,  scholarship.  Yet 
how  can  I  escape  it,  tied  like  a  bear  to  a  stake  here  ?  " 

J  Wilson,  Thackeray  in  America,  i.  pp.  16,  17  (New  York,  1904) , 


92  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Prescott's  favourite  form  of  social  intercourse  was 
found  in  little  dinners  shared  with  a  few  chosen 
friends.  These  affairs  he  called  "  cronyings,"  and  in 
them  he  took  much  delight,  even  though  they  often 
tempted  him  to  an  over-indulgence  in  tobacco  and 
sometimes  in  wine.1  One  rule,  however,  he  seldom 
broke,  and  that  was  his  resolve  never  to  linger  after 
ten  o'clock  at  any  function,  however  pleasant.  An 
old  friend  of  his  has  left  an  account  of  one  especially 
convivial  occasion  to  which  Prescott  had  invited  a 
number  of  his  friends.  The  dinner  was  given  at  a 
restaurant,  and  the  guests  were  mostly  young  men 
and  fond  of  good  living.  The  affair  went  off  so  well 
that,  as  the  hour  of  ten  approached,  no  one  thought 
of  leaving.  Prescott  began  to  fidget  in  his  chair 
and  even  to  drop  a  hint  or  two,  which  passed  un- 
noticed, for  the  reason  that  Prescott's  ten  o'clock 
rule  was  quite  unknown  to  his  jovial  guests.  At 
last,  to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  he  rose  and  made 
a  little  speech  to  the  company,  in  which  he  said 
that  he  was  sorry  to  leave  them,  but  that  he  must 
return  home. 

"  But,"  he  added,  "  I  am  sure  you  will  be  very  soon  in  no 
condition  to  miss  me,  —  especially  as  I  leave  behind  that 
excellent  representative  "  — pointing  to  a  basket  of  uncorked 
bottles  which  stood  in  a  corner.  "  Then  you  know  you  are 
just  as  much  at  home  in  this  house  as  I  am.  You  can  call 
for  what  you  like.  Don't  be  alarmed  —  I  mean  on  my  ac- 
count. I  abandon  to  you,  without  reserve,  all  my  best  wines, 
my  credit  with  the  house,  and  my  reputation  to  boot.  Make 
free  with  them  all,  I  beg  of  you  —  and  if  you  don't  go  home 
till  morning,  I  wish  you  a  merry  night  of  it." 

1  Meaning,  of  course,  that  he  took  more  wine  than  was  good  for 
his  eye, 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  93 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Prescott  was  not  quite  accu- 
rately reported,  and  that  he  did  not  speak  that  little 
sentence,  "Don't  be  alarmed,"  which  may  have  been 
characteristic  of  a  New  Englander,  but  which  cer- 
tainly would  have  induced  a  different  sort  of  guests  to 
leave  the  place  at  once.  If  he  did  say  it,  however,  it 
was  somewhat  in  keeping  with  the  tactlessness  which 
he  occasionally  showed.  The  habit  of  frank  speech, 
which  had  made  him  a  nuisance  as  a  boy,  never  quite 
left  him,  and  he  frequently  blurted  out  things  which 
were  of  the  sort  that  one  would  rather  leave  un- 
said. His  wife  would  often  nod  and  frown  at  him  on 
these  occasions,  and  then  he  would  always  make  the 
matter  worse  by  asking  her,  with  the  greatest  inno- 
cence, what  the  matter  was.  Mr.  Ogden  records  an 
amusing  instance  of  Prescott's  ndivett  during  his  last 
visit  to  England.  Conversing  about  Americanisms 
with  an  English  lady  of  rank,  she  criticised  the  Ameri- 
can use  of  the  word  "  snarl "  in  the  sense  of  disorder. 
"  Why,  surely,"  cried  Prescott,  "  you  would  say  that 
your  ladyship's  hair  is  in  a  snarl ! "  Which,  unfortu- 
nately, it  was  —  a  fact  that  by  no  means  soothed  the 
lady's  temper  at  being  told  so.  There  was  a  certain 
boyishness  about  Prescott,  however,  which  usually 
enabled  him  to  carry  these  things  off  without  offence, 
because  they  were  obviously  so  natural  and  so  unpre- 
meditated. His  boyishness  took  other  forms  which 
were  more  generally  pleasing.  One  evidence  of  it  was 
his  fondness  for  such  games  as  blindman's  buff  and 
puss-in-the-corner,  in  which  he  used  to  engage  with  all 
the  zest  of  a  child,  even  after  he  had  passed  his  fif- 
tieth year,  and  in  which  the  whole  household  took  part, 
together  with  any  distinguished  foreigners  who  might 


94  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

be  present.  Another  youthful  trait  was  his  readiness 
to  burst  into  song  on  all  occasions,  even  in  the  midst 
of  his  work.  In  fact,  just  before  beginning  any  ani- 
mated bit  of  descriptive  writing  he  would  rouse  him- 
self up  by  shouting  out  some  ballad  that  had  caught 
his  fancy ;  so  that  strangers  visiting  his  house  would 
often  be  amused  when,  from  the  grave  historian's  study, 
there  came  forth  the  sonorous  musical  appeal,  "  0  give 
me  but  my  Arab  steed ! "  Boyish,  too,  was  his  racy 
talk,  full  of  colloquialisms  and  bits  of  Yankee  dialect, 
with  which  also  his  personal  correspondence  was  pep- 
pered. Even  though  his  rather  prim  biographer, 
Ticknor,  has  gone  over  Prescott's  letters  with  a  fine- 
tooth  comb,  there  still  remain  enough  of  these  Doric 
gems  to  make  us  wish  that  all  of  them  had  been  re- 
tained. It  is  interesting  to  find  the  author  of  so  many 
volumes  of  stately  and  ornate  narration  letting  himself 
go  in  private  life,  and  dropping  into  such  easy  phrases 
as  "whopper-jawed,"  "cotton  to,"  "quiddle,"  "book 
up,"  "  crack  up,"  "  podder  "  (a  favourite  word  of  his), 
and  "  slosh."  He  retained  all  of  a  young  man's  delight 
in  his  own  convivial  feats,  and  we  find  him  in  one  of 
his  letters,  after  describing  a  rather  prolonged  and 
complicated  entertainment,  asking  gleefully,  "Am  I 
not  a  fast  boy  ?  " 

His  Yankee  phrases  were  the  hall-mark  of  his 
Yankee  nature.  Old  England,  with  all  its  beauty  of 
landscape  and  its  exquisite  finish,  never  drove  New 
England  from  his  head  or  heart.  Thus,  on  his  third 
visit  to  England,  he  wrote  to  his  wife :  "  I  came  through 
the  English  garden,  —  lawns  of  emerald  green,  wind- 
ing streams,  light  arched  bridges,  long  lines  stretch- 
ing between  hedges  of  hawthorn  all  flowering ;  rustic 


v.]  IN  MID  CABEER  96 

cottages,  lordly  mansions,  and  sweeping  woods  —  the 
whole  landscape  a  miracle  of  beauty."  And  then  he 
adds :  "  I  would  have  given  something  to  see  a  ragged 
fence,  or  an  old  stump,  or  a  bit  of  rock,  or  even  a  stone 
as  big  as  one's  fist,  to  show  that  man's  hand  had  not 
been  combing  Nature's  head  so  vigorously.  I  felt  I 
was  nolTin  my  own  dear,  wild  America."  Prescott  was 
a  true  Yankee  also  in  the  carefulness  of  his  attention 
to  matters  of  business.  He  did  not  value  money  for 
its  own  sake.  His  father  had  left  him  a  handsome 
competence.  He  spent  freely  both  for  himself  and 
for  his  friends;  but  none  the  less,  he  made  the 
most  minute  notes  of  all  his  publishing  ventures 
and  analysed  the  publishers'  returns  as  carefully  as 
though  he  were  a  professional  accountant.  This  was 
due  in  part,  no  doubt,  to  a  natural  desire  to  measure 
the  popularity  of  his  books  by  the  standard  of  financial 
success.  He  certainly  had  no  reason  to  be  dissatisfied. 
Up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  of  the  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  there  had  been  sold  in  the  United  States  and 
England  nearly  eighteen  thousand  copies ;  of  the 
Conquest  of  Mexico,  twenty-four  thousand  copies ;  and 
of  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  seventeen  thousand  copies  —  a 
total,  for  the  three  works,  of  nearly  sixty  thousand 
copies.  When  we  remember  that  each  of  these  histories 
was  in  several  volumes  and  was  expensively  printed  and 
bound,  and  that  the  reading  public  was  much  smaller 
in  those  days  than  now,  this  is  a  very  remarkable 
showing  for  three  serious  historical  works.  Since  his 
death,  the  sales  have  grown  greater  with  the  increase 
of  general  readers  and  the  lapse  of  the  American  copy- 
right. Prescott  made  excellent  terms  with  his  pub- 
lishers, as  has  already  been  recorded,  and  if  a  decision 


06  WILLIAM  HICKLItfG  PRESCOTT         [CHAP. 

of  the  House  of  Lords  had  been  favourable  to  his 
copyright  in  England,  his  literary  gains  in  that  coun- 
try would  have  been  still  larger.1 

His  liking  for  New  England  country  life  led  him  to 
maintain  in  addition  to  his  Boston  house,  at  55  Beacon 
Street,  two  other  places  of  residence.  One  was  at 
Nahant,  then,  as  now,  a  very  popular  resort  in  sum- 
mer. There  he  had  an  unpretentious  wooden  cot- 
tage of  two  stories,  with  a  broad  veranda  about  it, 
occupying  an  elevated  position  at  the  extremity  of  a 
bold  promontory  which  commanded  a  wide  view  of 
the  sea.  Nahant  is  famous  for  its  cool — almost  too 
cool  —  sea-breeze,  which  even  in  August  so  tempers 
the  heat  of  the  sun  as  to  make  a  shaded  spot  almost 
uncomfortably  cold.  This  bracing  air  Prescott  found 
admirably  tonic,  and  beneficial  both  to  his  eye  and  to 
his  digestion,  which  was  weak.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  dampness  of  the  breeze  affected  unfavourably  his 
tendency  to  rheumatism,  so  that  he  seldom  spent  more 
than  eight  weeks  of  the  year  upon  the  sea-shore.  He 
found  also  that  the  reflection  of  the  sun  from  the 
water  was  a  thing  to  be  avoided.  Therefore,  he  most 
thoroughly  enjoyed  his  other  country  place  at  Pep- 
perell,  where  his  grandmother  had  lived.  The  plain 
little  house,  known  as  "  The  Highlands,''  and  shaded 
by  great  trees,  seemed  to  him  his  truest  home.  Here, 
more  than  elsewhere,  he  threw  off  his  cares  and  gave 
himself  up  completely  to  his  drives  and  rides  and  walks 
and  social  pleasures.  The  country  round  about  was 
then  well  wooded,  and  Prescott  delighted  to  gallop 
through  the  forests  and  over  the  rich  countryside, 
every  inch  of  which  had  been  familiar  to  him  since 
i  See  p.  116. 


v.]  IN  MID  CAREER  97 

his  boyhood  days.  He  felt  something  of  the  English 
landowner's  pride  in  remembering  that  his  modest 
estate  had  been  in  the  possession  of  his  family  for 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  —  "An  uncommon 
event,"  he  wrote,  "  among  our  locomotive  people." 
Behind  the  house  was  a  lovely  shaded  walk  with  a  dis- 
tant view  of  Mount  Monadnock;  and  here  Prescott 
often  strolled  while  composing  portions  of  his  histories 
before  committing  them  to  paper.  Beyond  the  road 
stood  a  picturesque  cluster  of  oak  trees,  making  a  thick 
grove  which  he  called  "  the  Fairy  Grove,"  for  in  it  he 
used  to  tell  his  children  the  stories  about  elves  and 
gnomes  and  fairies  which  delighted  them  so  much. 

It  was  the  death  of  his  parents  that  led  him  in  the 
last  years  of  his  own  life  to  abandon  this  home  which 
he  so  dearly  loved.  The  memories  which  associated  it 
with  them  were  painful  to  him  after  they  had  gone. 
He  missed  their  faces  and  their  happy  converse,  and 
so,  in  1853,  he  purchased  a  house  on  Lynn  Bay, 
some  five  or  six  miles  distant  from  his  cottage  at 
Nahant.  Here  the  sea-breeze  was  cool  but  never  damp ; 
while,  unlike  Nahant,  the  place  was  surrounded  by 
green  meadow-land  and  pleasant  woods.  This  new 
house  was  much  more  luxurious  than  the  cottages  at 
Nahant  and  Pepperell,  and  he  spent  at  Lynn  nearly 
all  his  summers  during  his  last  five  years.  He  added  to 
the  place,  laying  out  its  grounds  and  tastefully  decorat- 
ing its  interior,  having  in  view  not  merely  his  own  com- 
fort but  that  of  his  children  and  grandchildren,  who 
now  began  to  gather  about  him.  His  daughter  Elizabeth, 
who  was  married  in  1852  to  Mr.  James  Lawrence  of 
Boston,  occupied  a  delightful  country  house  near  by. 

One  memorial  of  Prescott  long  remained  hereto  recall 


98  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT     [CHAP.  v. 

alike  the  owner  of  the  place  and  the  work  to  which  his 
life  had  been  devoted.  This  was  a  large  cherry  tree, 
which  afforded  the  only  shade  about  the  house  when  he 
first  took  possession  of  it.  The  state  of  his  eye  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  remain  long  in  the  sunshine  ; 
and  so,  in  his  hours  of  composition,  he  paced  around 
the  circle  of  the  shade  afforded  by  this  tree,  carrying 
in  his  hand  a  light  umbrella,  which  he  raised  for  a 
moment  when  he  passed  that  portion  of  the  circle  on 
which  the  sunlight  fell.  He  thus  trod  a  deep  path 
in  the  turf;  and  for  years  after  his  death  the  path 
remained  still  visible,  —  a  touching  reminder  to  those 
friends  of  his  who  saw  it. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   LAST   TEN   YEARS 

WHILE  Prescott  was  still  engaged  in  his  Mexican  and 
Peruvian  researches,  and,  in  fact,  even  before  he  had 
undertaken  them,  another  fascinating  subject  had 
found  lodgement  in  his  mind.  So  far  back  as  1838, 
only  a  few  months  after  the  publication  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  he  had  said :  "  Should  I  succeed  in  my 
present  collections,  who  knows  what  facilities  I  may 
find  for  making  one  relative  to  Philip  the  Second's 
reign — a  fruitful  theme  if  discussed  under  all  its 
relations,  civil  and  literary  as  well  as  military."  And 
again,  in  1839,  he  reverted  to  the  same  subject  in  his 
memoranda.  Could  he  have  been  sure  of  obtaining 
access  to  the  manuscript  and  other  sources,  he  might 
at  that  time  have  chosen  this  theme  in  preference  to 
the  story  of  the  Mexican  conquest.  He  knew,  how- 
ever, that  nothing  could  be  done  unless  he  were  able 
to  make  a  free  use  of  the  Spanish  archives  preserved 
at  Simancas.  To  this  ancient  town,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Cardinal  Ximenes,  the  most  precious  historical 
documents  relating  to  Spanish  history  had  been  re- 
moved, in  1536,  by  order  of  Charles  V.  The  old 
castle  of  the  Admiral  of  Castile  had  been  prepared  to 
receive  them,  and  there  they  still  remained,  as  they  do 
to-day,  filling  some  fifty  large  rooms  and  contained 
in  some  eighty  thousand  packages.  It  has  been  esti- 

99 


100  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

mated  that  fully  thirty  million  separate  documents  of 
various  kinds  are  included  in  this  remarkably  rich 
collection,  —  not  only  state  papers  of  a  formal  char- 
acter, but  private  letters,  secret  reports,  and  the  con- 
fidential correspondence  of  Spanish  ambassadors  in 
foreign  countries.1  Such  a  treasure-house  of  historical 
information  scarcely  exists  elsewhere ;  and  Prescott, 
therefore,  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Madrid  to  learn 
whether  he  might  hope  for  access  to  this  Spanish 
Vatican.  In  1839,  however,  he  made  the  following 
memorandum :  "  By  advices  from  Madrid  this  week,  I 
learn  that  the  archives  of  Simancas  are  in  so  dis- 
orderly a  state  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  gather 
material  for  the  reign  of  Philip  II."  His  friend, 
Arthur  Middleton,  cited  to  him  the  instance  of  a  young 
scholar  who  had  been  permitted  to  explore  these  col- 
lections for  six  months,  and  who  had  found  that  the 
documents  of  a  date  prior  to  the  year  1700  were  "  all 
thrown  together  without  order  or  index."  Further- 
more, Prescott's  agent  in  Spain,  Dr.  Lembke,  had 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  government,  which 
expelled  him  from  the  country.  Prescott  was.  there- 
fore, obliged  for  the  time  to  put  aside  the  project  of  a 
history  of  Philip  II.,  and  he  turned  instead  to  the 
study  of  the  Mexican  conquest. 

Nevertheless,  with  that  quiet  pertinacity  which  was 
one  of  his  conspicuous  traits,  he  still  kept  the  theme 
in  mind,  and  let  it  be  known  to  his  friends  in  Paris 
and  London,  as  well  as  in  Madrid  and  elsewhere,  that 
all  materials  bearing  upon  the  career  of  Philip  II. 

1  For  an  interesting  account  of  Simancas  and  the  archives,  see  a 
paper  by  Dr.  W.  R,  Shepherd,  in  the  Reports  of  the  American  His- 
torical Association  for  1903  (Washington,  1905). 


vi.]  THE   LAST  TEN  YEARS  101 

were  much  desired  by  him.  These  friends  re- 
sponded" very  zealously  to  his  wishes.  In  Paris,  M. 
Mignet  and  M.  Ternaux-Compans  allowed  Dr.  Lembke 
to  have  their  important  manuscript  collections  copied. 
In  London,  Prescott's  correspondent  and  former  re- 
viewer, Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  searched  the  docu- 
ments in  the  British  Museum  and  a  very  rich  private 
collection  owned  by  Sir  Thomas  Philips.  He  also 
visited  Brussels,  where  he  found  more  valuable  mate- 
rial, and  later,  having  been  appointed  Professor  of 
Arabic  in  the  University  of  Madrid  (1842),  he  used 
his  influence  on  behalf  of  Prescott  with  very  great 
success.  Many  noble  houses  in  Spain  put  at  his  dis- 
posal their  family  memorials.  The  National  Library 
and  other  public  institutions  offered  whatever  they 
possessed  in  the  way  of  books  and  papers.  Two  years 
later,  this  indefatigable  friend  spent  some  weeks  at 
Simancas,  where  he  unearthed  many  an  interesting 
trouvaille.  Even  these  sources,  however,  were  not  the 
only  ones  which  contributed  to  Prescott's  store  of 
documents.  Ferdinand  Wolf  in  Vienna,  and  Huin- 
boldt  and  Kanke  in  Berlin,  also  aided  him,  and  se- 
cured additional  material,  not  only  in  Austria  and 
Prussia,  but  in  Tuscany.  His  collection  grew  apace ; 
so  that,  long  before  he  was  ready  to  take  up  the  sub- 
ject of  Philip  II.,  he  possessed  over  three  hundred  and 
seventy  volumes  bearing  directly  upon  the  reign  of 
that  monarch,  while  his  manuscript  copies,  which  he 
caused  to  be  richly  bound,  came  to  number  in  the  end 
some  thirty-eight  huge  folios.  These  occupied  a  posi- 
tion of  special  honour  in  his  library,  and  were  playfully 
called  by  him  his  Seraglio. 
Thus,  in  1847,  when  about  to  take  up  his  fourth 


102  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

important  work,  he  was  already  richly  documented. 
His  health,  however,  was  unsatisfactory.  He  had 
now  some  ailments  that  had  become  chronic,  —  dys- 
pepsia and  a  urethral  complication,  which  often  caused 
him  intense  suffering.  It  was  not  until  July  29, 
1849,  that  he  began  to  write  the  first  chapter  of  Philip 
II.  at  Nahant.  He  makes  the  laconic  note :  "  Heavy 
work,  this  starting.  I  have  been  out  of  harness  too 
long.  .  .  .  The  business  of  fixing  thought  is  incredi- 
bly difficult."  He  continued  writing  at  Pepperell, 
and  at  his  home  in  Boston,  until  he  had  regained  a 
good  deal  of  his  old  facility.  His  physical  strength, 
however,  was  waning,  and  he  could  no  longer  continue 
to  work  with  his  former  regularity  and  method.  He 
lost  flesh,  and  was  threatened  for  a  while  with  deafness, 
the  fear  of  which  was  almost  too  much  for  even  his 
inveterate  cheerfulness.  In  February,  1850,  he  wrote : 
"  Increasing  interest  in  the  work  is  hardly  to  be  ex- 
pected, considering  it  has  to  depend  so  much  on  the  ear. 
As  I  shall  have  to  depend  more  and  more  on  this  one  of 
my  senses  as  I  grow  older,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  Provi- 
dence will  spare  me  my  hearing.  It  would  be  a  fear- 
ful thing  to  doubt  it."  His  depression  finally  became 
so  great  that  he  suspended  for  a  time  his  labours  and 
made  a  short  visit  to  Washington,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  abundant  hospitality.  He  was  entertained 
by  President  Taylor,  by  Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  the  British 
Minister,  by  Webster,  and  by  many  other  distinguished 
persons ;  but  he  became  more  and  more  convinced  that 
a  complete  change  was  necessary  to  restore  his  health 
and  spirits ;  and  so,  on  May  22d  of  the  same  year,  he 
sailed  from  New  York  for  Liverpool,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  3d  of  June. 


vi.]  THE  LAST  TEX  YEARS  103 

ji 

Prescott's  stay  in  England  was  perhaps  the  most 
delightful  episode  in  his  life.  His  biographer,  Mr. 
Ticknor,  speaks  of  it  as  "  the  most  brilliant  visit  ever 
made  to  England  by  an  American  citizen  not  clothed 
with  the  prestige  of  official  station."  The  assertion  is 
quite  true,  since  the  cordiality  which  Lowell  met  with 
in  that  country  was,  in  part,  at  any  rate,  due  to  his 
diplomatic  rank,  while  General  Grant  was  essentially 
a  political  personage  who  was,  besides,  personally 
commended  to  all  foreign  courts  by  his  successor  in 
office,  President  Hayes.  But  Prescott,  with  no  cre- 
dentials save  his  reputation  as  a  man  of  letters  and 
his  own  charming  personality,  enjoyed  a  welcome  of 
boundless  cordiality.  It  was  not  merely  that  he  was 
a  literary  celebrity  and  was  received  everywhere  by  his 
brothers  of  the  pen,  —  he  became  the  fashion  and  was 
unmistakably  the  lion  of  the  season.  From  the  mo- 
ment when  he  landed  at  Liverpool  he  found  himself 
encircled  by  friends.  The  attentions  paid  to  him  were 
never  formal  or  perfunctory.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
homes  of  the  greatest  Englishmen,  and  was  there  made 
free  of  that  delightful  hospitality  which  Englishmen 
reserve  for  the  chosen  few.  No  sooner  had  he  reached 
London  than  he  was  showered  with  cards  of  invitation 
to  the  greatest  houses,  and  with  letters  couched  in 
terms  of  personal  friendship.  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  his 
old  acquaintance,  welcomed  him  to  London  a  few 
hours  after  his  arrival.  The  American  Minister,  Mr. 
Abbott  Lawrence,1  begged  him  to  be  present  at  a  dip- 
lomatic dinner.  In  company  of  the  Lyells  he  was 
taken  at  once  to  an  evening  party  where  he  met  Lord 

i  The  father  of  Mr.  James  Lawrence,  who  afterward  married 
Prescott's  daughter  Elizabeth.  See  p.  97. 


104  WILLIAM  HICKLING  TRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Palmerston,  then  Premier,  and  other  members  of  the 
Ministry.  Lord  Carlisle  greeted  him  in  a  fashion 
strangely  foreign  to  English  reserve,  for  he  threw 
his  arms  around  Prescott,  making  the  historian  blush 
like  a  great  girl.  It  would  be  tedious  to  recount  the 
unbroken  series  of  brilliant  entertainments  at  which 
Prescott  was  the  guest  of  honour.  His  letters  written 
at  this  time  from  England  are  full  of  interesting  and 
often  amusing  bits  of  description,  and  they  show  that 
even  his  exceptional  social  honours  were  very  far  from 
turning  his  head.  In  fact,  he  viewed  the  whole  thing 
as  a  diverting  show,  except  when  the  warmth  of  the 
personal  welcome  touched  his  heart.  Through  it  all 
he  was  the  self-poised  American,  never  losing  his 
native  sense  of  humour.  He  made  friends  with  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  who,  at  their  first  meeting,  addressed  him 
in  French,  having  taken  him  for  the  French  dramatist 
M.  Scribe !  He  chatted  often  with  the  Duke  of  Well- 
ington, and  described  him  in  a  comparison  which  makes 
one  smile  because  it  is  so  Yankee-like  and  Bostonese. 

"  In  the  crowd  I  saw  an  old  gentleman,  very  nicely  made 
up,  stooping  a  good  deal,  very  much  decorated  with  orders, 
and  making  his  way  easily  along,  as  all,  young  and  old, 
seemed  to  treat  him  with  deference.  It  was  the  Duke  —  the 
old  Iron  Duke  —  and  I  thought  myself  lucky  in  this  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  him.  ...  He  paid  me  some  pretty  compli- 
ments on  which  I  grew  vain  at  once,  and  I  did  my  best  to 
repay  him  in  coin  that  had  no  counterfeit  in  it.  He  is  a 
striking  figure,  reminding  me  a  good  deal  of  Colonel  Perkins 
in  his  general  air." 

Prescott  attended  the  races  at  Ascot  with  the  Ameri- 
can and  Swedish  Ministers,  was  the  guest  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  and  was  presented  at  Court  —  a  ceremony  which 
he  described  to  Mrs.  Prescott  in  a  very  lively  letter. 


Vi.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  105 

"  I  was  at  Lawrence's,  at  one,  in  my  costume  :  a  chape"au 
with  gold  lace,  blue  coat,  and  white  trousers,  begilded  with 
buttons  and  metal,  —  a  sword  and  patent  leather  boots.  I 
was  a  figure  indeed!  But  I  had  enough  to  keep  me  in 
countenance.  I  spent  an  hour  yesterday  with  Lady  M.  get- 
ting instructions  for  demeaning  myself.  The  greatest  dan- 
ger was  that  I  should  be  tripped  up  by  my  own  sword.  .  .  . 
The  company  were  at  length  permitted  one  by  one  to  pass 
into  the  presence  chamber  —  a  room  with  a  throne  and 
gorgeous  canopy  at  the  farther  end,  before  which  stood  the 
little  Queen  of  the  mighty  Isle  and  her  Consort,  surrounded 
by  her  ladies-in-waiting.  She  was  rather  simply  dressed, 
but  he  was  in  a  Field  Marshal's  uniform,  and  covered,  I  should 
think,  with  all  the  orders  of  Europe.  He  is  a  good-looking 
person,  but  by  no  means  so  good-looking  as  the  portraits  of 
him.  The  Queen  is  better-looking  than  you  might  expect. 
I  was  presented  by  our  Minister,  according  to  the  directions 
of  the  Chamberlain,  as  the  historian  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  in  due  form  —  and  made  my  profound  obeisance 
to  her  Majesty,  who  made  a  very  dignified  curtesy,  as  she 
made  to  some  two  hundred  others  who  were  presented  in 
like  manner.  I  made  the  same  low  bow  to  his  Princeship  to 
whom  I  was  also  presented,  and  so  bowed  myself  out  of  the 
royal  circle,  without  my  sword  tripping  up  the  heels  of  my 
nobility.  .  .  .  Lord  Carlisle  .  .  .  said  he  had  come  to  the 
drawing-room  to  see  how  I  got  through  the  affair,  which 
he  thought  I  did  without  any  embarrassment.  Indeed,  to  say 
truth,  I  have  been  more  embarrassed  a  hundred  times  in  my 
life  than  I  was  here.  I  don't  know  why ;  I  suppose  because 
I  am  getting  old." 

Somewhat  later,  while  Prescott  was  a  guest  at  Castle 
Howard,  where  the  Queen  was  also  entertained,  he  had 
something  more  to  tell  about  her. 

"  At  eight  we  went  to  dinner  all  in  full  dress,  but  mourn- 
ing for  the  Duke  of  Cambridge ;  I,  of  course,  for  President 
Taylor !  All  wore  breeches  or  tight  pantaloons.  It  was  a 
brilliant  show,  I  assure  you  —  that  immense  table  with  its 
fruits  and  flowers  and  lights  glancing  over  beautiful  plate 


106  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

and  in  that  superb  gallery.  I  was  as  near  the  Queen  as  at 
our  own  family  table.  She  has  a  good  appetite  and  laughs 
merrily.  She  has  fine  eyes  and  teeth,  but  is  short.  She 
was  dressed  in  black  silk  and  lace  with  the  blue  scarf  of 
the  Order  of  the  Garter  across  her  bosom.  Her  only  orna- 
ments were  of  jet.  The  Prince,  who  is  certainly  a  hand- 
some and  very  well  made  man,  wore  the  Garter  with  its 
brilliant  buckle  round  his  knee,  a  showy  star  on  his  breast, 
and  the  collar  of  a  foreign  order  round  his  neck. 

"  In  the  evening  we  listened  to  some  fine  music  and  the 
Queen  examined  the  pictures.  Odd  enough  the  etiquette. 
Lady  Carlisle,  who  did  the  honours  like  a  high-bred  lady  as 
she  is,  and  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  were  the  only  ladies 
who  talked  with  her  Majesty.  Lord  Carlisle,  her  host,  was 
the  only  gentleman  who  did  so  unless  she  addressed  a  per- 
son herself.  No  one  can  sit  a  moment  when  she  chooses  to 
stand.  She  did  me  the  honour  to  come  and  talk  with  me  — 
asking  me  about  my  coming  here,  my  stay  in  the  Castle, 
what  I  was  doing  now  in  the  historic  way,  how  Everett  was 
and  where  he  was  —  for  ten  minutes  or  so;  and  Prince 
Albert  afterwards  a  long  while,  talking  about  the  houses 
and  ruins  in  England,  and  the  churches  in  Belgium,  and  the 
pictures  in  the  room,  and  I  don't  know  what.  I  found  my- 
self now  and  then  trenching  on  the  rules  by  interrupting, 
etc. ;  but  I  contrived  to  make  it  up  by  a  respectful  *  Your 
Royal  Highness,'  '  Your  Majesty,'  etc.  I  told  the  Queen  of 
the  pleasure  I  had  in  finding  myself  in  a  land  of  friends 
instead  of  foreigners  —  a  sort  of  stereotype  with  me — and 
of  my  particular  good  fortune  in  being  under  the  roof  with 
her.  She  is  certainly  very  much  of  a  lady  in  her  manner, 
with  a  sweet  voice." 

At  Oxford,  Prescott  was  the  guest  of  the  Bishop, 
the  well-known  Wilberforce,  popularly  known  by  his 
sobriquet  of  "  Soapy  Sam."  The  University  conferred 
upon  the  American  historian  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Unitarian.  This  circum- 
stance was  known  and  caused  some  slight  difficulty, 
but  possibly  the  degree  given  to  Everett,  another 


vi.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  107 

Unitarian,  some  years  before  in  spite  of  great  opposi- 
tion, was  regarded  as  having  established  a  precedent ; 
and  Oxford  cherishes  the  cult  of  precedent.  At  the 
Bishop's  house,  however,  Prescott  shocked  a  lady  by 
telling  her  of  his  creed.  He  wrote  to  Ticknor :  "  The 
term  [Unitarian]  is  absolutely  synonymous  in  a  large 
party  here  with  Infidel,  Jew,  Mohammedan;  worse 
even,  because  regarded  as  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing." 
The  lady,  however,  succeeded  in  giving  Prescott  a 
shock  in  return;  for  when  he  happened  to  mention 
Dr.  Channing,  she  told  him  that  she  had  never  even 
heard  the  man's  name  —  a  sort  of  ignorance  which  to 
a  Bostonian  was  quite  incomprehensible. 

Prescott's  account  of  the  university  ceremonial  is 
given  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Ticknor. 

"  Lord  Northampton  and  I  were  doctorised  in  due  form. 
We  were  both  dressed  in  flaming  red  robes  (it  was  the  hot- 
test day  I  have  felt  here),  and  then  marched  out  in  solemn 
procession  with  the  Faculty,  etc.,  in  their  black  and  red  gowns 
through  the  public  streets.  .  .  .  We  were  marched  up  the 
aisle ;  Professor  Phillimore  made  a  long  Latin  exposition  of 
our  merits,  in  which  each  of  the  adjectives  ended,  as  Southey 
said  in  reference  to  himself  on  a  like  occasion,  in  issimus ; 
and  amidst  the  cheers  of  the  audience  we  were  converted 
into  Doctors." 

Prescott  was  much  pleased  with  this  Oxford  degree, 
which  rightly  seemed  to  him  more  significant  than  the 
like  honours  which  had  come  to  him  from  various  Ameri- 
can colleges.  "Now,"  said  he,  " I  am  a  real  Doctor." 

In  the  same  letter  he  gives  a  little  picture  of 
Lord  Brougham  during  a  debate  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  Brougham  was  denouncing  Baron  Bunsen 
for  his  course  in  the  Schleswig-Holstein  affair, — ( 
Bunsen  being  in  the  House  at  the  tinae, 


108  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

"  What  will  interest  you  is  the  assault  made  so  brutally 
by  Brougham  on  your  friend  Bunsen.  I  was  present  and 
never  saw  anything  so  coarse  as  his  personalities.  He  said 
the  individual  [Bunsen]  took  up  the  room  of  two  ladies. 
Bunsen  is  rather  fat  as  also  Madame  and  his  daughter  — 
all  of  whom  at  last  marched  out  of  the  gallery,  but  not  until 
eyes  and  glasses  had  been  directed  to  the  spot  to  make  out 
the  unfortunate  individuals,  while  Lord  Brougham  was  fly- 
ing up  and  down,  thumping  the  table  with  his  fists  and 
foaming  at  the  mouth  till  all  his  brother  peers,  including 
the  old  Duke,  were  in  convulsions  of  laughter.  I  dined  with 
Bunsen  and  Madame  the  same  day  at  Ford's." 

Prescott  met  both  Disraeli  and  Gladstone,  and, 
among  other  more  purely  literary  men,  Macaulay, 
Lockhart,  Hallam,  Thirlwall,  Milman,  and  Rogers. 
Of  Macaulay  he  tells  some  interesting  things. 

"  I  have  met  him  several  times,  and  breakfasted  with  him 
the  other  morning.  His  memory  for  quotations  and  illus- 
tration is  a  miracle  —  quite  disconcerting.  He  comes  to  a 
talk  like  one  specially  crammed.  Yet  you  may  start  the 
topic.  He  told  me  he  should  be  delivered  of  twins  on  his 
next  publication,  which  would  not  be  till  '53.  .  .  .  Macau- 
lay's  first  draught  —  very  unlike  Scott's  —  is  absolutely  illeg- 
ible from  erasures  and  corrections.  ...  He  tells  me  he  has 
his  moods  for  writing.  When  not  in  the  vein,  he  does  not 

press  it.  ...    H told  me  that  Lord  Jeffrey  once  told  him 

that,  having  tripped  up  Macaulay  in  a  quotation  from  Paradise 
Lost,  two  days  after,  Macaulay  came  to  him  and  said,  « You 
will  not  catch  me  again  in  the  Paradise.'  At  which  Jeffrey 
opened  the  volume  and  took  him  up  in  a  great  number  of 
passages  at  random,  in  all  of  which  he  went  on  correctly 
repeating  the  original.  Was  it  not  a  miraculous  tour 
d'espritf  Macaulay  does  not  hesitate  to  say  now  that  he 
thinks  he  could  restore  the  first  six  or  seven  books  of  the 
Paradise  in  case  they  were  lost." 

Still  again,  Prescott  expresses  his  astonishment  at 
Macaulay's  memory. 


VL]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  109 

"  Macaulay  is  the  most  of  a  miracle.  His  tours  in  the  way 
of  memory  stagger  belief.  .  .  .  His  talk  is  like  the  laboured, 
but  still  unintermitting,  jerks  of  a  pump.  But  it  is  anything 
but  wishy-washy.  It  keeps  the  mind,  however,  on  too  great 
a  tension  for  table-talk." 

Writing  of  Samuel  Rogers,  who  was  now  a  very  old 
man,  he  records  a  characteristic  little  anecdote. 

"  I  have  seen  Rogers  several  times,  that  is,  all  that  is  out 
of  the  bedclothes.  His  talk  is  still  sauce  piquante.  The  best 

thing  on  record  of  his  late  sayings  is  his  reply  to  Lady , 

who  at  a  dinner  table,  observing  him  speaking  to  a  lady, 
said,  'I  hope,   Mr.   Rogers,  you    are    not   attacking   me.' 

'  Attacking  you ! '  he   said,  '  why,   my   dear   Lady ,   I 

have  been  all  my  life  defending  you.'     Wit  could  go  no 
further." 

Prescott  was  the  guest  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland 
at  Trentham  and  at  Stafford  House.  He  was  invited 
to  Lord  Lansdowne's,  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's, 
the  Duke  of  Argyle's,  and  to  Lord  Grey's,  and  he  de- 
scribes himself  in  one  letter  as  up  to  his  ears  in  dances, 
dinners,  and  breakfasts.  This  sort  of  life,  with  all  its 
glitter  and  gayety,  suited  Prescott  wonderfully  well, 
and  his  health  improved  daily.  He  remarked,  how- 
ever: "It  is  a  life  which,  were  I  an  Englishman,  I 
should  not  desire  a  great  deal  of ;  two  months  at  most ; 
although  I  think,  on  the  whole,  the  knowledge  of  a 
very  curious  state  of  society  and  of  so  many  interest- 
ing and  remarkable  characters,  well  compensate  the 
bore  of  a  voyage.  Yet  I  am  quite  sure,  having  once 
had  this  experience,  nothing  would  ever  induce  me  to 
repeat  it,  as  I  have  heard  you  say  it  would  not  pay." 
Some  little  personal  notes  and  memoranda  may  also 
be  quoted. 


110  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

"  Everything  is  drawn  into  the  vortex,  and  there  they  swim 
round  and  round,  so  that  you  may  revolve  for  weeks  and  not 
meet  a  familiar  face  half  a  dozen  times.  Yet  there  is  monot- 
ony in  some  things  —  that  everlasting  turbot  and  shrimp 
sauce.  I  shall  never  abide  a  turbot  again." 

"  Do  you  know,  by  the  way,  that  I  have  become  a  court- 
ier and  affect  the  royal  presence?  I  wish  you  could  see  my 
gallant  costume,  gold-laced  coat,  white  inexpressibles,  silk 
hose,  gold-buckled  patent  slippers,  sword  and  chapeau.  Am 
I  not  playing  the  fool  as  well  as  my  betters?  " 

"  A  silly  woman  .  .  .  said  when  I  told  her  it  was  thirty 
years  since  I  was  here,  *  Pooh !  you  are  not  more  than 
thirty  years  old.'  And  on  my  repeating  it,  she  still  in- 
sisted on  the  same  flattering  ejaculation.  The  Bishop  of 
London  the  other  day  with  his  amiable  family  told  me  they 
had  settled  my  age  at  forty.  ...  So  I  am  convinced  there 
has  been  some  error  in  the  calculation.  Ask  mother  how  it 
is.  They  say  here  that  gray  hair,  particularly  whiskers, 
may  happen  to  anybody  even  under  thirty.  On  the  whole, 
I  am  satisfied  that  I  am  the  youngest  of  the  family." 

Writing  to  his  daughter  from  Alnwick  Castle,  the 
seat  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  Prescott  gave  a 
little  instance  of  his  own  extreme  sensibility.  A  great 
number  of  children  were  being  entertained  by  the  Duke 
and  Duchess. 

"  As  they  all  joined  in  the  beautiful  anthem,  '  God  save 
the  Queen,'  the  melody  of  the  little  voices  rose  up  so  clear 
and  simple  in  the  open  courtyard  that  everybody  was  touched. 
Though  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  anthem,  some  of  my 
opera  tears,1  dear  Lizzie,  came  into  my  eyes,  and  did  me  great 
crediu  with  some  of  the  John  and  Jennie  Bulls  by  whom  I 
was  surrounded." 

When  he  left  Alnwick  :  — 

"  My  friendly  hosts  remonstrated  on  my  departure,  as  they 
had  requested  me  to  make  them  a  long  visit ;  and  '  I  never 

*  Alluding  to  the  fact  that  be  always  shed  tears  at  the  opera. 


n.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  111 

say  what  I  do  not  mean/  said  the  Duke,  in  an  honest  way. 
And  when  I  thanked  him  for  his  hospitable  welcome,  « It  is 
no  more,'  he  said,  'than  you  should  meet  in  every  house 
in  England.'  That  was  hearty." 

The  letters  written  by  Prescott  while  in  Europe 
are  marked  also  by  evidences  of  the  beautiful  affec- 
tion which  he  cherished  for  his  wife,  of  whom  he 
once  said,  many  years  after  their  marriage:  "  Contrary 
to  the  assertion  of  La  Bruyere —  who  somewhere  says 
that  the  most  fortunate  husband  finds  reason  to  regret 
his  condition  at  least  once  in  twenty-four  hours  —  I 
may  truly  say  that  I  have  found  no  such  day  in  the 
quarter  of  a  century  that  Providence  has  spared  us  to 
each  other."  In  the  letters  written  by  him  during  this 
English  visit,  there  remain,  even  after  the  ruthless 
editing  done  by  Ticknor,  passages  that  are  touching  in 
their  unaffected  tenderness. 

Thus,  from  London,  June  14,  1850 :  — 

"  Why  have  I  no  letter  on  my  table  from  home  ?  I  trust 
I  shall  find  one  there  this  evening,  or  I  shall,  after  all,  have 
a  heavy  heart,  which  is  far  from  gay  in  this  gayety." 

And  the  following  from  Antwerp,  July  23,  1850  :  — 

"  Dear  Susan,  I  never  see  anything  beautiful  in  nature 
or  art,  or  hear  heart-stirring  music  in  the  churches  —  the 
only  place  where  music  does  stir  my  heart  —  without  think- 
ing of  you  and  wishing  you  could  be  by  my  side,  if  only  for 
a  moment." 

When  Prescott  returned  from  this,  his  last  visit  to 
Europe,  he  found  himself  at  the  very  zenith  of  his  fame. 
In  every  respect,  his  position  was  most  enviable.  The 
union  of  critical  approval  with  popular  applause  —  a 
thing  which  is  so  rare  in  the  experience  of  authors  — 
had  been  fairly  won  by  him.  His  books  were  accepted 


112  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT 

as  authoritative,  while  they  were  read  by  thousands 
who  never  looked  into  the  pages  of  other  historians. 
Even  a  volume  of  miscellaneous  essays l  which  he  had 
collected  from  his  stray  contributions  to  the  North 
American,  and  which  had  been  published  in  England 
by  Bentley  in  1845,  had  succeeded  with  the  public  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  He  had  the  prestige  of  a 
very  flattering  foreign  recognition,  and  his  friendships 
embraced  some  of  the  best-known  men  and  women  in 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  It  may  seem 
odd  that  the  letters  and  other  writings  of  his  contem- 
poraries seldom  contain  more  than  a  mere  casual 
mention  of  him ;  but  the  explanation  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  the  disposition  of  Prescott  himself.  As  a 
man,  and  in  his  social  intercourse  outside  of  his  own 
family,  he  was  so  thoroughly  well-bred,  so  far  from 
anything  resembling  eccentricity,  and  so  averse  from 
literary  pose,  as  to  afford  no  material  for  gossip 
or  indeed  for  special  comment.  In  this  respect,  his 
life  resembled  his  writings.  There  was  in  each  a 
noticeable  absence  of  the  piquant,  or  the  sensational. 
He  pleased  by  his  manners  as  by  his  pen;  but  he 
possessed  no  mannerisms  such  as  are  sometimes  sup- 
posed to  be  the  hall-marks  of  originality.  Hence,  one 
finds  no  mass  of  striking  anecdotes  collected  and  sent 
about  by  those  who  knew  him ;  any  more  than  in  his 
writing  one  chances  upon  startling  strokes  of  style. 
Prescott,  however,  had  his  own  very  definite  opin- 

1  The  English  title  of  this  book  was  Critical  and  Historical 
Essays.  It  contained  twelve  papers  and  also  the  life  of  Charles 
Brockden  Brown  already  mentioned  (p.  65) .  The  American  edition 
bore  the  title  Biographical  and  Critical  Miscellanies.  It  has  been 
several  times  reprinted,  the  last  issue  appearing  in  Philadelphia  in 
1882. 


vi.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  113 

ions  concerning  his  contemporaries,  though  they  were 
always  expressed  in  kindly  words.  To  Irving  he  was 
especially  attracted  because  of  a  certain  likeness  of 
temperament  between  them.  His  sensitive  nature  felt 
all  the  nuances  of  Irving's  delicate  style,  especially 
when  it  was  used  for  pathetic  effects.  "You  have 
read  Irving's  Memoirs  of  Miss  Davidson"  he  once 
wrote  to  Miss  Ticknor.  "  Did  you  ever  meet  with  any 
novel  half  so  touching  ?  It  is  the  most  painful  book  I 
ever  listened  to.  I  hear  it  from  the  children  and  we 
all  cry  over  it  together.  What  a  little  flower  of  Para- 
dise ! "  Yet  he  could  accurately  criticise  his  friend's 
productions.1  Longfellow  was  another  of  Prescott's 
associates,  and  his  ballads  of  the  sea  were  favourites. 
Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson  quotes  Prescott  as  saying  that 
The  Skeleton  in  Armor  and  Tlie  Wreck  of  the  Hes- 
perus were  the  best  imaginative  poetry  since  Cole- 
ridge. Of  Byron  he  wrote,  in  1840,  some  sentences  to 
a  friend  which  condense  very  happily  the  opinion  that 
has  finally  come  to  be  accepted.  Indeed,  Prescott 
shows  in  his  private  letters  a  critical  gift  which  one 
seldom  finds  in  his  published  essays  —  a  judgment  at 
once  shrewd,  clear-sighted,  and  sensible. 

"  I  think  one  is  apt  to  talk  very  extravagantly  of  his 
[Byron's]  poetry;  for  it  is  the  poetry  of  passion  and  carries 
away  the  sober  judgment.  It  defies  criticism  from  its  very 
nature,  being  lawless,  independent  of  all  rules,  sometimes  of 
grammar,  and  even  of  common  sense.  When  he  means  to 
be  strong  he  is  often  affected,  violent,  morbid.  .  .  .  But 
then  there  is,  with  all  this  smoke  and  fustian,  a  deep  sensi- 
bility to  the  sublime  and  beautiful  in  nature,  a  wonderful 
melody,  or  rather  harmony,  of  language,  consisting  ...  in  a 
variety  —  the  variety  of  nature  —  in  which  startling  rugged- 
ness  is  relieved  by  soft  and  cultivated  graces." 
i  Infra,  p.  134. 


114  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Probably  the  most  pungent  bit  of  literary  comment 
that  Prescott  ever  wrote  is  found  in  a  letter  of  his  ad- 
dressed to  Bancroft, l  who  had  sent  him  a  copy  of  Car- 
lyle's  French  Revolution.  The  clangour  and  fury  of 
this  book  could  hardly  fail  to  jar  upon  the  nerves  of  so 
decorously  classical  a  writer  as  Prescott. 

"  I  return  you  Carlyle  with  my  thanks.  I  have  read  as 
much  of  him  as  I  could  stand.  After  a  very  candid  desire 
to  relish  him,  I  must  say  I  do  not  at  all.  The  French  Revo- 
lution is  a  most  lamentable  comedy  and  requires  nothing 
but  the  simplest  statement  of  facts  to  freeze  one's  blood. 
To  attempt  to  colour  so  highly  what  nature  has  already  over- 
coloured  is,  it  appears  to  me,  in  very  bad  taste  and  produces 
a  grotesque  and  ludicrous  effect.  .  .  .  Then  such  ridiculous 
affectations  of  new-fangled  words !  Carlyle  is  ever  a  bungler 
in  his  own  business ;  for  his  creations  or  rather  combinations 
are  the  most  discordant  and  awkward  possible.  As  he  runs 
altogether  for  dramatic  or  rather  picturesque  effect,  he  is  not 
to  be  challenged,  I  suppose,  for  want  of  refined  views.  This 
forms  no  part  of  his  plan.  His  views,  certainly,  so  far  as 
I  can  estimate  them,  are  trite  enough.  And,  in  short,  the 
whole  thing  .  .  .  both  as  to  forme  and  to  fond,  is  perfectly 
contemptible." 

Of  Thackeray,  Prescott  saw  quite  a  little  during  the 
novelist's  visit  to  America  in  1852-1853,  and  several 
times  entertained  him.  He  did  not  greatly  care  for  the 
lectures  on  the  English  humorists,  which,  as  Thackeray 
confided  to  Prescctt,  caused  America  to  "  rain  dollars." 
"  I  do  not  think  he  made  much  of  an  impression  as  a 
critic,  but  the  Thackeray  vein  is  rich  in  what  is  better 
than  cold  criticism."  Thackeray  on  his  side  expresses 
his  admiration  for  Prescott  in  the  opening  sentences 
of  The  Virginians,  though  without  naming  him :  — 

l  November  1,  1838. 


vi.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  115 

"  On  the  library  wall  of  one  of  the  most  famous  writers 
of  America,  there  hang  two  crossed  swords,  which  his  rela- 
tives wore  in  the  great  war  of  Independence.  The  one  sword 
was  gallantly  drawn  in  the  service  of  the  King;  the  other 
was  the  weapon  of  a  brave  and  humane  republican  soldier. 
The  possessor  of  the  harmless  trophy  has  earned  for  him- 
self a  name  alike  honoured  in  his  ancestor's  country  and 
his  own,  where  genius  like  his  has  always  a  peaceful  wel- 
come." 

This  little  tribute  pleased  Prescott  very  much,  and 
he  wrote  to  Lady  Lyell  asking  her  to  get  TJie  Virgin- 
ians  and  read  the  passage,  which,  as  he  says,  "  was  very 
prettily  done."  On  the  whole,  however,  he  seems  to 
have  preferred  Dickens  to  Thackeray,  being  deceived 
by  the  very  superficial  cynicism  affected  by  the  latter. 
But  in  fiction,  his  prime  favourites  were  always  Scott 
and  Dumas,  whose  books  he  never  tired  of  hearing 
read.  Thus,  in  mature  age,  the  tastes  of  his  boyhood 
continued  to  declare  themselves;  and  few  days  ever 
passed  without  an  hour  or  two  devoted  to  the  magic  of 
romance. 

During  the  winter  following  his  return  from  Europe, 
which  he  spent  in  Boston,  he  found  it  difficult  to  settle 
down  to  work  again,  and  not  until  the  autumn  did  he 
wholly  resume  his  life  of  literary  activity.  After  doing 
so,  however,  he  worked  rapidly,  so  that  the  first  volume 
of  Philip  II.  was  completed  in  April,  1852.  It  was  very 
well  received,  in  fact,  as  warmly  as  any  of  his  earlier 
work,  and  the  same  was  true  of  the  second  volume,  which 
appeared  in  1854.  Prescott  himself  said  that  he  was 
"  a  little  nervous  "  about  the  success  of  the  book,  inas- 
much as  a  long  interval  had  elapsed  since  the  publica- 
tion of  his  Peru,  and  he  fearecl  lest  the  public  might 
have  lost  its  interest  in  him.  The  result,  however, 


116  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

showed  that  he  need  not  have  felt  any  apprehension. 
Within  six  months  after  the  second  volume  had  been 
published,  more  than  eight  thousand  copies  were 
sold  in  the  United  States,  and  probably  an  equal  num- 
ber in  England.  Moreover,  interest  was  revived  in 
Prescott's  preceding  histories,  so  that  nearly  thirty 
thousand  volumes  of  them  were  taken  by  the  public 
within  a  year  or  two.  There  was  the  same  favourable 
consensus  of  critical  opinion  regarding  Philip  //., 
and  it  received  the  honour  of  a  notice  from  the  pen 
of  M.  Guizot  in  the  Edinburgh  Review. 

In  bringing  out  this  last  work  Prescott  had  changed 
his  publishers,  —  not,  however,  because  of  any  dis- 
agreement with  the  Messrs.  Harper,  with  whom  his 
relations  had  always  been  most  satisfactory,  and  of 
whom  he  always  spoke  in  terms  of  high  regard.  But  a 
Boston  firm,  Messrs.  Sampson,  Phillips  and  Company, 
had  made  him  an  offer  more  advantageous  than  the 
Harpers  felt  themselves  justified  in  doing.  In  another 
sense  the  change  might  have  been  fortunate  for  Pres- 
cott, inasmuch  as  the  warehouse  of  the  Harpers  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  1853.  In  this  fire  were  consumed 
several  thousand  copies  of  Prescott's  earlier  books, 
for  which  payment  had  been  already  made.  Prescott, 
however,  with  his  usual  generosity,  permitted  the 
Harpers  to  print  for  their  own  account  as  many 
copies  as  had  been  lost.  In  England  his  publishing 
arrangements  were  somewhat  less  favourable  than 
hitherto.  When  he  had  made  his  earlier  contracts 
with  Bentley,  it  was  supposed  that  the  English  pub- 
lisher could  claim  copyright  in  works  written  by  a 
foreigner.  A  decision  of  the  House  of  Lords  adverse 
to  such  a  view  had  now  been  rendered,  and  therefore 


vi.]  THE  LAST  TEN  YEARS  117 

Mr.  Bentley  could  receive  no  advantage  through  an 
arrangement  with  Prescott  other  than  such  as  might 
come  to  him  from  securing  the  advance  sheets  and 
from  thus  being  first  in  the  field.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
Philip  II.  was  brought  out  in  four  separate  editions  in 
Great  Britain.  In  Germany  it  was  twice  reprinted  in 
the  original  and  once  in  a  German  translation.  A 
French  version  was  brought  out  in  Paris  by  Didot, 
and  a  Spanish  one  in  Madrid.  Prescott  himself 
wrote :  — 

"I  have  received  $17,000  for  the  Philip  and  the  other 
works  the  last  six  months.  .  .  .  From  the  tone  of  the  foreign 
journals  and  those  of  my  own  country,  it  would  seem  that 
the  work  has  found  quite  as  much  favour  as  any  of  its  prede- 
cessors, and  the  sales  have  been  much  greater  than  any  other 
of  them  in  the  same  space  of  time." 

Later,  writing  to  Bancroft,  he  said  :  — 

"  The  book  has  gone  off  very  well  so  far.  Indeed,  double 
the  quantity,  I  think,  has  been  sold  of  any  of  my  preceding 
works  in  the  same  time.  I  have  been  lucky,  too,  in  getting 
well  on  before  Macaulay  has  come  thundering  along  the  track 
with  his  hundred  horse-power." 

While  engaged  in  the  composition  of  Philip  II.,  Pres- 
cott had  undertaken  to  write  a  continuation  of  Rob- 
ertson's History  of  Charles  V.  He  had  been  asked 
to  prepare  an  entirely  new  work  upon  the  reign  of 
that  monarch,  but  this  seemed  too  arduous  a  task. 
He  therefore  rewrote  the  conclusion  of  Robertson's 
book  —  a  matter  of  some  hundred  and  eighty  pages. 
This  he  began  in  the  spring  of  1855,  and  finished 
it  during  the  following  year.  It  was  published  on 
December  8,  1856,  on  which  day  he  wrote  to  Tick- 
nor :  "  My  Charles  the  Fifth,  or  rather  Robertson's  with 


118  WILLIAM   H1CKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

my  Continuation,  made  his  bow  to-day,  like  a  strapping 
giant  with  a  little  urchin  holding  on  to  the  tail  of  his 
coat." l  At  about  the  same  time  Prescott  prepared 
a  brief  memoir  of  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence,  the  father 
of  his  daughter's  husband.  This  was  printed  for 
private  distribution. 

During  the  year  which  followed,  Prescott's  health 
began  steadily  to  fail.  He  suffered  from  violent  pains 
in  the  head ;  so  severe  as  to  rob  him  of  sleep  and  to 
make  work  of  any  kind  impossible.  He  still,  however, 
enjoyed  intervals  when  he  could  laugh  and  jest  in  his 
old  careless  way,  and  even  at  times  indulge  in  the 
pleasant  little  dinners  which  he  loved  to  share  with 
his  most  intimate  friends.  On  February  4th,  however, 
while  walking  in  the  street,  he  was  stricken  down  by 
an  apoplectic  seizure,  which  solved  the  mystery  of  his 
severe  headaches.  When  he  recovered  consciousness 
his  first  words  were,  "  My  poor  wife  !  I  am  so  sorry 
for  you  that  this  has  come  upon  you  so  soon."  The 
attack  was  a  warning  rather  than  an  instant  summons. 
After  a  few  days  lie  was  once  more  himself,  except 
that  his  enunciation  never  again  became  absolutely 
clear.  Serious  work,  of  course,  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. He  listened  to  a  good  deal  of  reading,  chiefly 
fiction.  He  was  put  upon  a  very  careful  regimen  in 
the  matter  of  diet,  and  wrote,  with  a  touch  of  rueful 
amusement,  of  the  vegetarian  meals  to  which  he  was 
restricted:  "I  have  been  obliged  to  exchange  my 
carnivorous  propensities  for  those  of  a  more  innoaent 
and  primitive  nature,  picking  up  my  fare  as  our  good 
parents  did  before  the  Fall."  Improving  somewhat,  he 

1  Nearly  seven  thousand  copies  of  this  book  had  been  taken  up 
before  the  end  of  the  following  three  years. 


vi.]  THE   LAST  TEN   YEARS  119 

completed  the  third  volume  of  Philip  II.  ;  not  so  fully 
as  he  had  intended,  but  mainly  putting  together  so 
much  of  it  as  had  already  been  prepared.  The  book 
was  printed  in  April,  1858,  and  the  supervision  of  the 
proof-sheets  afforded  him  some  occupation,  as  did  also 
the  making  of  a  few  additional  notes  for  a  new  edition 
of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.  The  summer  of  1858  he 
spent  in  Pepperell,  returning  to  Boston  in  October,  in 
the  hope  of  once  more  taking  up  his  studies.  He  did, 
in  fact,  linger  wistfully  over  his  books  and  manu- 
scripts, but  accomplished  very  little;  for,  soon  after 
the  New  Year,  there  came  the  end  of  all  his  labours. 
On  January  27th,  his  health  was  apparently  in  a  satis- 
factory condition.  He  listened  to  his  secretary,  Mr. 
Kirk,  read  from  one  of  Sala's  books  of  travel,  and,  in 
order  to  settle  a  question  which  arose  in  the  course  of 
the  reading,  he  left  the  library  to  speak  to  his  wife  and 
sister.  Leaving  them  a  moment  later  with  a  laugh, 
he  went  into  an  adjoining  room,  where  presently  he 
was  heard  to  groan.  His  secretary  hurried  to  his  side, 
and  found  him  quite  unconscious.  In  the  early  after- 
noon he  died,  without  knowing  that  the  end  had 
come. 

Prescott  had  always  dreaded  the  thought  of  being 
buried  alive.  His  vivid  imagination  had  shown  him 
the  appalling  horror  of  a  living  burial.  Again  and 
again  he  had  demanded  of  those  nearest  him  that  he 
should  be  shielded  from  the  possibility  of  such  a,  fate. 
Therefore,  when  the  physicians  had  satisfied  them- 
selves that  life  had  really  left  him,  a  large  vein  was 
severed,  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure. 

On  the  last  day  of  January  he  was  buried  in  the 
family  tomb,  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Paul's.  Men  and 


120  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT        [CHAP.  vi. 

women  of  every  rank  and  station  were  present  at  the 
simple  ceremony.  The  Legislature  of  the  State  had 
adjourned  so  that  its  members  might  pay  their  tribute 
of  respect  to  so  distinguished  a  citizen.  The  His- 
torical Society  was  represented  among  the  mourners. 
His  personal  friends  and  those  of  humble  station, 
whom  he  had  so  often  befriended,  filled  the  body  of 
the  church.  Before  his  burial,  his  remains,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  wish  of  his  that  was  well  known,  had 
been  carried  to  the  room  in  which  were  his  beloved 
books  and  where  so  many  imperishable  pages  had  been 
written.  There,  as  it  were,  he  lay  in  state.  It  is  thus 
that  one  may  best,  in  thought,  take  leave  of  him,  amid 
the  memorials  and  records  of  a  past  which  he  had 
made  to  live  again. 


CHAPTER  VII 

"  FERDINAND   AND    ISABELLA  " PRESCOTT's    STYLE 

THE  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  is  best  regarded 
as  Prescott's  initiation  into  the  writing  of  historical 
literature.  It  was  a  prolusio,  a  preliminary  trial  of 
his  powers,  in  some  respects  an  apprenticeship  to  the 
profession  which  he  had  decided  to  adopt.  When  he 
began  its  composition  he  had  published  nothing  but 
a  few  casual  reviews.  He  had  neither  acquired  a 
style  nor  gained  that  self-confidence  which  does  so 
much  to  command  success.  No  such  work  as  this  had 
as  yet  been  undertaken  by  an  American.  How  far  he 
could  himself  overcome  the  peculiar  difficulties  which 
confronted  him  was  quite  uncertain.  Whether  he  had 
it  in  him  to  be  at  once  a  serious  investigator  and  a 
maker  of  literature,  he  did  not  know.  Therefore,  the 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  shows  here  and  there  an  un- 
certainty of  touch  and  a  lack  of  assured  method  such 
as  were  quite  natural  in  one  who  had  undertaken  so 
ambitious  a  task  with  so  little  technical  experience. 

In  the  matter  of  style,  Prescott  had  not  yet  emanci- 
pated himself  from  that  formalism  which  had  been 
inherited  from  the  eighteenth-century  writers,  and 
which  Americans,  with  the  wonted  conservatism  of 
provincials,  retained  long  after  Englishmen  had  begun 
to  write  with  naturalness  and  simplicity.  Even  in 
fiction  this  circumstance  is  noticeable.  At  a  time 

121 


122  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

when  Scott  was  thrilling  the  whole  world  of  English 
readers  with  his  vivid  romances,  written  hastily  and 
often  carelessly,  in  a  style  which  reflected  his  own  in- 
dividual nature,  Cooper  was  producing  stories  equally 
exciting,  but  told  in  phraseology  almost  as  stilted  as  that 
which  we  find  in  Rasselas.  This  was  no  less  true  in 
poetry.  The  great  romantic  movement  which  in  Eng- 
land found  expression  in  Byron  and  Shelley  and  the 
exquisitely  irregular  metres  of  Coleridge  had  as  yet 
awakened  no  true  responsive  echo  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  Among  the  essay-writers  and  historians  of 
America  none  had  summoned  up  the  courage  to  shake 
off  the  Addisonian  and  Johnsonian  fetters  and  to  move 
with  free,  unstudied  ease.  Irving  was  but  a  later  Gold- 
smith, and  Bancroft  a  Yankee  Gibbon.  The  papers 
which  then  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review,  to 
whose  pages  Prescott  himself  was  a  regular  contributor, 
give  ample  evidence  that  the  literary  models  of  the  time 
were  those  of  an  earlier  age,  —  an  age  in  which  dig- 
nity was  supposed  to  lie  in  ponderosity  and  to  be 
incompatible  with  grace. 

Prescott's  nature  was  not  one  that  had  the  slightest 
sympathy  with  pedantry.  No  more  spontaneous  spirit 
than  his  can  be  imagined.  His  joyousness  and  gayety 
sometimes  even  tended  toward  the  frivolous.  Yet  in 
this  first  serious  piece  of  historical  writing,  he  imposed 
upon  himself  the  shackles  of  an  earlier  convention. 
Just  because  his  mood  prompted  him  to  write  in  an 
unstudied  style,  all  the  more  did  he  feel  it  necessary 
to  repress  his  natural  inclination.  Therefore,  in  the 
text  of  his  history,  we  find  continual  evidence  of  the 
eighteenth-century  literary  manner,  —  the  balanced 
sentence,  the  inevitable  adjective,  the  studied  antithe- 


vii.]  PRESCOTT'S  STYLE  123 

sis,  and  the  elaborate  parallel.  Women  are  invari- 
ably "  females  "  ;  a  gift  is  a  "  donative  "  ;  a  marriage 
does  not  take  place,  but  "nuptials  are  solemnized"; 
a  name  is  usually  an  "  appellation "  ;  a  crown  "  de- 
volves "  upon  a  successor ;  a  poet  "  delivers  his 
sentiments";  a  king  "avails  himself  of  indetermi- 
nateness";  and  so  on.  A  cumbrous  sentence  like  the 
following  smacks  of  the  sort  of  English  that  was  soon 
to  pass  away :  — 

"  Fanaticism  is  so  far  subversive  of  the  most  established 
principles  of  morality  that  under  the  dangerous  maxim  '  For 
the  advancement  of  the  faith  all  means  are  lawful,'  which 
Tasso  has  rightly,  though  perhaps  undesignedly,  derived  from 
the  spirits  of  hell,  it  not  only  excuses  but  enjoins  the  com- 
mission of  the  most  revolting  crime  as  a  sacred  duty." l 

And  the  following :  — 

"  Casiri's  multifarious  catalogue  bears  ample  testimony  to 
the  emulation  with  which  not  only  men  but  even  females  of 
the  highest  rank  devoted  themselves  to  letters;  the  latter 
contending  publicly  for  the  prizes,  not  merely  in  eloquence 
and  poetry,  but  in  those  recondite  studies  which  have  usually 
been  reserved  for  the  other  sex."  2 

The  style  of  these  sentences  is  essentially  the  style 
of  the  old  North  American  Review  and  of  eighteenth- 
century  England.  The  particular  chapter  from  which 
the  last  quotation  has  been  taken  was,  in  fact,  origi- 
nally prepared  by  Prescott  for  the  North  American,  as 
already  mentioned,3  and  was  only  on  second  thought 
reserved  for  a  chapter  of  the  history. 

The  passion  for  parallel,  which  had  existed  among 
historical  writers  ever  since  the  time  of  Plutarch,  was 
responsible  for  the  elaborate  comparison  which  Pres- 

1  i.  p.  268,  2  i.  p.  285.  3  Supra,  p,  65. 


124  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

cott  makes  between  Isabella  and  Elizabeth  of  England.1 
It  is  worked  out  relentlessly  —  Isabella  aDd  Elizabeth 
in  their  private  lives,  Isabella  and  Elizabeth  in  their 
characters,  Isabella  and  Elizabeth  in  the  selection 
of  their  ministers  of  State,  Isabella  and  Elizabeth  in 
their  intellectual  power,  Isabella  and  Elizabeth  in 
their  respective  deaths.  Prescott  drags  it  all  in  ;  and 
it  affords  evidence  of  the  literary  standards  of  his 
countrymen  at  the  time,  that  this  laboured  parallel  was 
thought  to  be  the  very  finest  thing  in  the  whole  book. 
If,  however,  Prescott  maintained  in  the  body  of  his 
text  the  rigid  lapidary  dignity  which  he  thought  to  be 
appropriate,  his  natural  liveliness  found  occasional  ex- 
pression in  the  numerous  foot-notes,  which  at  times  he 
wrote  somewhat  in  the  vein  of  his  private  letters  from 
Pepperell  and  Nahant.  The  contrast,  therefore,  be- 
tween text  and  notes  was  often  thoroughly  incongru- 
ous because  so  violent.  This  led  his  English  reviewer, 
Mr.  Richard  Ford,2  to  write  some  rather  acrid  sentences 
that  in  their  manner  suggest  the  tone  which,  in  our 
days,  the  Saturday  Review  has  always  taken  with  new 
authors,  especially  when  they  happen  to  be  American. 
Wrote  Mr.  Ford  of  Prescott :  — 

"His  style  is  too  often  sesquipedalian  and  ornate;  the 
stilty,  wordy,  false  taste  of  Dr.  Charming  without  his  depth 
of  thought;  the  sugar  and  sack  of  Washington  Irving  without 
the  half-pennyworth  of  bread  —  without  his  grace  and  polish 
of  pure,  grammatical,  careful  Anglicism.  We  have  many 
suspicions,  indeed,  from  his  ordinary  quotations,  from  what 
he  calls  in  others  '  the  cheap  display  of  school-boy  erudition,' 
and  from  sundry  lurking  sneers,  that  he  has  not  drunk  deeply 
at  the  Pierian  fountains,  which  taste  the  purer  the  higher 

1  iii.  pp.  199-204. 

2  In  the  British  Quarterly  Review,  Ixiv  (1839). 


vii.]  PRESCOTT'S  STYLE  125 

we  track  them  to  their  source.  These,  the  only  sure  founda- 
tions of  a  pure  and  correct  style,  are  absolutely  necessary  to 
our  Transatlantic  brethren,  who  are  unfortunately  deprived 
of  the  high  standing  example  of  an  order  of  nobility,  and  of 
a  metropolis  where  local  peculiarities  evaporate.  The  ele- 
vated tone  of  the  classics  is  the  only  corrective  for  their 
unhappy  democracy.  Moral  feeling  must  of  necessity  be 
degraded  wherever  the  multitude  are  the  sole  dispensers  of 
power  and  honour.  All  candidates  for  the  foul-breathed  uni- 
versal suffrage  must  lower  their  appeal  to  base  understand- 
ings and  base  motives.  The  authors  of  the  United  States, 
independently  of  the  deteriorating  influence  of  their  institu- 
tions, can  of  all  people  the  least  afford  to  be  negligent.  Far 
severed  from  the  original  spring  of  English  undefiled,  they 
always  run  the  risk  of  sinking  into  provincialisms,  into 
Patavinity,  —  both  positive,  in  the  use  of  obsolete  words,  and 
the  adoption  of  conventional  village  significations,  which 
differ  from  those  retained  by  us,  —  as  well  as  negative,  in  the 
omission  of  those  happy  expressions  which  bear  the  fire-new 
stamp  of  the  only  authorised  mint.  Instances  occur  con- 
stantly in  these  volumes  where  the  word  is  English,  but 
English  returned  after  many  years'  transportation.  We  do 
not  wish  to  be  hypercritical,  nor  to  strain  at  gnats.  If,  how- 
ever, the  authors  of  the  United  States  aspire  to  be  admitted 
ad  eundem,  they  must  write  the  English  of  the  *  old  country,' 
which  they  will  find  it  is  much  easier  to  forget  and  corrupt 
than  to  improve.  We  cannot,  however,  afford  space  here  for 
&florilegium  Yankyense.  A  professor  from  New  York,  newly 
imported  into  England  and  introduced  into  real  good  society, 
of  which  previously  he  can  only  have  formed  an  abstract 
idea,  is  no  bad  illustration  of  Mr.  Prescott's  over-done  text. 
Like  the  stranger  in  question,  he  is  always  on  his  best  be- 
haviour, prim,  prudish,  and  stiff-necky,  afraid  of  self-com- 
mittal, ceremonious,  remarkably  dignified,  supporting  the 
honour  of  the  United  States,  and  monstrously  afraid  of  being 
laughed  at.  Some  of  these  travellers  at  last  discover  that 
bows  and  starch  are  not  even  the  husk  of  a  gentleman ;  and 
so,  on  re-crossing  the  Atlantic,  their  manner  becomes  like 
Mr.  Prescott's  notes ;  levity  is  mistaken  for  ease,  an  un-'  per- 


126  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

tinent '  familiarity  for  intimacy,  second-rate  low-toned  *  jocu- 
larities'  (which  make  no  one  laugh  but  the  retailer)  for 
the  light,  hair-trigger  repartee,  the  brilliancy  of  high-bred 
pleasantry.  Mr.  Prescott  emulates  Dr.  Channing  in  his  text, 
Dr.  Dunham  and  Mr.  Joseph  Miller  in  his  notes.  Judging 
from  thel'acetise  which,  by  his  commending  them  as  'good,' 
have  furnished  a  gauge  to  measure  his  capacity  for  relishing 
humour,  we  are  convinced  that  his  non-perception  of  wit  is 
so  genuine  as  to  be  organic.  It  is  perfectly  allowable  to  rise 
occasionally  from  the  ludicrous  into  the  serious,  but  to  de- 
scend from  history  to  the  bathos  of  balderdash  is  too  bad  — 
risu  inepto  nihil  ineptius." 

This  passage,  which  is  an  amusing  example  of  an  over- 
flow of  High  Tory  bile,  does  not  by  any  means  fairly 
represent  the  general  tone  of  Ford's  review.  Prescott 
had  here  and  there  indulged  himself  in  some  of  the 
commonplaces  of  republicanism  such  as  were  usual  in 
American  writings  of  that  time  ;  and  these  harmlessly 
trite  political  pedantries  had  rasped  the  nerves  of  his 
British  reviewer.  To  speak  of  "the  empty  decora- 
tions, the  stars  and  garters  of  an  order  of  nobility,"  to 
mention  "  royal  perfidy,"  " royal  dissimulation,"  "royal 
recompense  of  ingratitude,"  and  generally  to  intimate 
that  "the  people"  were  superior  to  royalty  and  nobil- 
ity, roused  a  spirit  of  antagonism  in  the  mind  of  Mr. 
Ford.  Several  of  Prescott's  semi-facetious  notes  dealt 
with  rank  and  aristocracy  in  something  of  the  same 
hold-cheap  tone,  so  that  Ford  was  irritated  into  a  very 
personal  retort  He  wrote  :  — 

"  These  pleasantries  come  with  a  bad  grace  from  the  son, 
as  we  learn  from  a  full-length  dedication,  of  *  the  Honour- 
able William  Prescott,  LL.D.'  We  really  are  ignorant  of  the 
exact  value  of  this  titular  potpourri  in  a  soi-disant  land  of 
equality,  of  these  noble  and  academic  plumes,  borrowed 
from  the  wing  of  a  professedly  despised  monarchy." 


vii.]  PKESCOTT'S   STYLE  127 

Although  Ford's  characterisation  of  Prescott's  style 
had  some  basis  of  truth,  it  was,  of  course,  grossly 
exaggerated.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  one  is  conscious  of  a  strong  tendency 
toward  simplicity  of  expression.  Many  passages  are 
as  easy  and  unaffected  as  any  that  we  find  in  an  histori- 
cal writer  of  to-day.  Eeadirig  the  pages  over  now,  one 
can  see  the  true  Prescott  under  all  the  starch  and 
stiffness  which  at  the  time  he  mistakenly  regarded  as 
essential  to  the  dignity  of  historical  writing.  In  fact, 
as  the  work  progressed,  the  author  gained  something 
of  that  ease  which  comes  from  practice,  and  wrote 
more  and  more  simply  and  more  after  his  own  natural 
manner.  What  is  really  lacking  is  sharpness  of  outline. 
The  narrative  is  somewhat  too  flowing.  One  misses, 
now  and  then,  crispness  of  phrase  and  force  of  character- 
isation. Prescott  never  wrote  a  sentence  that  can  be  re- 
membered. His  strength  lies  in  his  ensemble,  in  the 
general  effect,  and  in  the  agreeable  manner  in  which  he 
carries  us  along  with  him  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
This  first  book  of  his,  from  the  point  of  view  of  style,  is 
"pleasant  reading."  Its  movement  is  that  of  an  am- 
bling palfrey,  well  broken  to  a  lady's  use.  Nowhere  have 
we  the  sensation  of  the  rush  and  thunder  of  a  war-horse. 

Ford's  strictures  made  Prescott  wince,  or,  as  Mr. 
Ticknor  gently  puts  it,  "  disturbed  his  equanimity." 
They  caused  him  to  consider  the  question  of  his  own 
style  in  the  light  of  Ford's  very  slashing  strictures.  In 
making  this  self-examination  Prescott  was  perfectly 
candid  with  himself,  and  he  noted  down  the  conclu- 
sions which  he  ultimately  reached. 

"  It  seems  to  me  the  first  and  sometimes  the  second  vol- 
ume afford  examples  of  the  use  of  words  not  so  simple  as 


128  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

might  be ;  not  objectionable  in  themselves,  but  unless  some- 
thing is  gained  in  the  way  of  strength  or  of  colouring  it  is 
best  to  use  the  most  simple,  unnoticeable  words  to  express 
ordinary  things  ;  e.g.  '  to  send '  is  better  than  ' to  transmit ' ; 
'crown  descended'  better  than  'devolved';  'guns  fired' 
than  '  guns  discharged ' ;  '  to  name,'  or  'call,'  than  '  to  nomi- 
nate ' ;  '  to  read '  than  '  peruse ' ;  '  the  term,'  or  ' name,'  than 
'  appellation,'  and  so  forth.  It  is  better  also  not  to  encum- 
ber the  sentence  with  long,  lumbering  nouns ;  as,  '  the  re- 
linquishment  of,'  instead  of  '  relinquishing ' ;  '  the  embellish- 
ment and  fortification  of,'  instead  of  'embellishing  and 
fortifying ' ;  and  so  forth.  I  can  discern  no  other  warrant 
for  Master  Ford's  criticism  than  the  occasional  use  of  these 
and  similar  words  on  such  commonplace  matters  as  would 
make  the  simpler  forms  of  expression  preferable.  In  my 
third  volume,  I  do  not  find  the  language  open  to  much 
censure." 

He  also  came  to  the  following  sensible  decision 
which  very  materially  improved  his  subsequent  writ- 
ing:— 

"  I  will  not  hereafter  vex  myself  with  anxious  thoughts 
about  my  style  when  composing.  It  is  formed.  And  if 
there  be  any  ground  for  the  imputation  that  it  is  too  formal, 
it  will  only  be  made  worse  in  this  respect  by  extra  solici- 
tude. It  is  not  the  defect  to  which  I  am  predisposed.  The 
best  security  against  it  is  to  write  with  less  elaboration  —  a 
pleasant  recipe  which  conforms  to  my  previous  views.  This 
determination  will  save  me  trouble  and  time.  Hereafter 
what  I  print  shall  undergo  no  ordeal  for  the  style's  sake 
except  only  the  grammar." 

Some  other  remarks  of  his  may  be  here  recorded, 
though  they  really  amount  to  nothing  more  than  the 
discovery  of  the  old  truth,  le  style  c'est  Vhomme. 

"  A  man's  style  to  be  worth  anything  should  be  the  nat- 
ural expression  of  his  mental  character.  .  .  .  The  best 
undoubtedly  for  every  writer  is  the  form  of  expression  best 


viz.]  "FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA'*  129 

suited  to  his  peculiar  turn  of  thinking,  even  at  some  hazard 
of  violating  the  conventional  tone  of  the  most  chaste  and 
careful  writers.  It  is  this  alone  which  can  give  full  force  to 
his  thoughts.  Franklin's  style  would  have  borne  more  orna- 
ment—  Washington  Irving  could  have  done  with  less  — 
Johnson  and  Gibbon  might  have  had  much  less  formality, 
and  Hume  and  Goldsmith  have  occasionally  pointed  their 
sentences  with  more  effect.  But,  if  they  had  abandoned  the 
natural  suggestions  of  their  genius  and  aimed  at  the  con- 
trary, would  they  not  in  mending  a  hole,  as  Scott  says,  have 
very  likely  made  two  ?  .  .  .  Originality  —  the  originality 
of  nature  —  compensates  for  a  thousand  minor  blemishes. 
.  .  .  The  best  rule  is  to  dispense  with  all  rules  except  those 
of  grammar,  and  to  consult  the  natural  bent  of  one's 
genius." 

Thereafter  Prescott  held  to  his  resolution  so  far  as 
concerned  the  first  draft  of  what  he  wrote.  He  always, 
however,  before  publication,  asked  his  friends  to  read 
and  criticise  what  he  had  written,  and  he  used  also  to 
employ  readers  to  go  over  his  pages  with  great  minute- 
ness, making  notes  which  he  afterwards  passed  upon, 
rejecting  most  of  the  suggestions,  but  nevertheless 
adopting  a  good  many. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  historical  accuracy,  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  is  a  solid  piece  of  work.  The 
original  sources  to  which  Prescott  had  access  were 
numerous  and  valuable.  Discrepancies  and  contradic- 
tions he  sifted  out  with  patience  and  true  critical  acumen. 
He  overlooked  nothing,  not  even  those  "  still-born 
manuscripts  "  whose  writers  recorded  their  experiences 
for  the  pure  pleasure  of  setting  down  the  truth.  Ford 
very  justly  said,  regarding  Prescott's  notes :  "  Of  the 
accuracy  of  his  quotations  and  references  we  cannot 
speak  too  highly ;  they  stamp  a  guarantee  on  his  nar- 
rative ;  they  enable  us  to  give  a  reason  for  our  faith ; 

K 


130  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

they  furnish  means  of  questioning  and  correcting  the 
author  himself ;  they  enable  readers  to  follow  up  any 
particular  subject  suited  to  their  own  idiosyncrasy." 
It  is  only  in  that  part  of  the  book  which  relates  to  the 
Arab  domination  in  Spain  that  Prescott's  work  is  un- 
satisfactory;  and  even  there  it  represents  a  distinct 
advance  upon  his  predecessors,  both  French  and 
Spanish.  At  the  time  when  he  wrote,  it  would,  indeed, 
have  been  impossible  for  him  to  secure  greater  accu- 
racy ;  because  the  Arabic  manuscripts  contained  in  the 
Escurial  had  not  been  opened  to  the  inspection  of  in- 
vestigators ;  and,  moreover,  a  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guage in  which  they  were  written  would  have  been 
essential  to  their  proper  use.  In  default  of  these 
sources,  Prescott  gave  too  much  credence  to  Casiri,  and 
especially  to  Conde's  history  which  had  appeared  not 
long  before,  but  which  had  been  hastily  written,  so  that 
it  contained  some  serious  misstateinents  and  inconsist- 
encies. Conde,  although  he  professed  to  have  gone  to 
the  original  records  in  Arabic,  had  in  reality  got  most  of 
his  information  at  second  hand  from  Cardonne  and  Mar- 
mol.  Hence,  Prescott's  chapters  on  the  Arabs  in  Spain, 
although  they  appear  to  the  general  reader  to  represent 
exact  and  solid  knowledge,  are  in  fact  inaccurate  in  parts. 
In  other  respects,  however,  the  most  modern  histor- 
ical scholarship  has  detected  no  serious  flaws  in 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Such  defects  as  the  book 
possesses  are  negative  rather  than  positive,  and  they 
are  really  due  to  the  author's  cast  of  mind.  Prescott 
was  not,  and  he  never  became,  a  philosophical  his- 
torian. His  gift  was  for  synthesis  rather  than  for 
analysis.  He  was  an  industrious  gatherer  of  facts,  an 
impartial  judge  of  evidence,  a  sympathetic  and  accurate 


vii.]  "FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA"  131 

narrator  of  events.  He  could  not,  however,  firmly 
grasp  the  underlying  causes  of  what  he  superficially 
observed,  rior  penetrate  the  very  heart  of  things.  His 
power  of  generalisation  was  never  strong.  There  is  a 
certain  lack  also,  especially  in  this  first  one  of  his 
historical  compositions,  of  a  due  appreciation  of  char- 
acter. He  describes  the  great  actors  in  his  drama,  — 
Ferdinand,  Isabella,  Columbus,  Ximenes,  and  Gonsalvo 
de  Cordova,  —  and  what  he  says  of  them  is  eminently 
true ;  yet,  somehow  or  other,  he  fails  to  make  them 
live.  They  are  stately  figures  that  move  in  a 
majestic  way  across  one's  field  of  vision;  yet  it  is 
their  outward  bearing  and  their  visible  acts  that  he 
makes  us  know,  rather  than  the  interplay  of  motive 
and  temperament  which  impelled  them.  His  taste,  in- 
deed, is  decidedly  for  the  splendid  and  the  spectacular. 
Kings,  princes,  nobles,  warriors,  and  statesmen  crowd 
his  pages.  Perhaps  they  satisfied  the  starved  imagi- 
nation of  the  New  Englander,  whose  own  life  was  lived 
amid  surroundings  antithetically  prosaic.  Certain  it 
is,  that,  in  dwelling  upon  a  memorable  epoch,  he  omitted 
all  consideration  of  a  stratum  of  society  which  under- 
lay the  surface  which  alone  he  saw.  A  few  more  years, 
and  the  fifteenth-century  picaro,  the  common  man,  the 
trader,  and  the  peasant  were  destined  to  emerge  from 
the  humble  position  to  which  the  usages  of  chivalry 
had  consigned  them.  The  invention  of  gunpowder  and 
the  use  of  it  in  war  soon  swept  away  the  advantage 
which  the  knight  in  armour  had  possessed  as  against 
the  humble  foot-soldier  who  followed  him.  The  dis- 
covery of  America  and  the  opening  of  new  lands  teem- 
ing with  treasures  for  their  conquerors  roused  and 
stimulated  the  consciousness  of  the  lower  orders.  Be- 


132  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT        [CHAP,  vn 

fore  long,  the  man-at-arms,  the  musketeer,  and  the  ar- 
tilleryman attained  a  consequence  which  the  ordinary 
fighting  man  had  never  had  before.  After  these  had  gone 
forth  as  adventurers  into  the  New  World,  they  brought 
back  with  them  not  only  riches  wrested  from  the  helpless 
natives  whom  they  had  subdued,  but  a  spirit  of  freedom 
verging  even  upon  lawlessness,  which  leavened  the  whole 
stagnant  life  of  Europe.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  such  as 
had  been  only  pawns  in  the  game  of  statesmanship  and 
war  became  factors  to  be  anxiously  considered.  Even 
literature  then  takes  notice  of  them,  and  for  the  first  time 
they  begin  to  influence  the  course  of  modern  history.  A 
philosophical  historian,  therefore,  would  have  looked  be- 
yond the  ricos  hombres,  and  would  have  revealed  to  us, 
at  least  in  part,  the  existence  and  the  mode  of  life  of 
that  great  mass  of  swarming  humanity  with  which  the 
statesman  and  the  feudal  lord  had  soon  to  reckon. 

As  it  was,  however,  Prescott  saw  the  obvious  rather 
than  the  recondite.  Within  the  field  which  he  had 
marked  out,  his  work  was  admirably  done.  He  deline- 
ated clearly  and  impartially  the  events  of  a  splendid 
epoch  wherein  the  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Aragon 
were  united  under  two  far-seeing  sovereigns,  and  where- 
in the  power  of  Spanish  feudalism  was  broken,  the 
prestige  of  France  and  Portugal  brought  low,  the  Moors 
expelled,  and  Spain  consolidated  into  one  united  king- 
dom from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Mediterranean,  while  a 
new  and  unknown  world  was  opened  for  the  expansion 
and  enrichment  of  the  old.  He  well  deserved  the  praise 
which  a  Spanish  critic  and  scholar l  gave  him  of  having 
written  in  a  masterly  manner  one  of  the  most  successful 
historical  productions  of  the  century  in  which  he  lived, 
i  Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos. 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

THE    "  CONQUEST    OF    MEXICO  "    AS    LITERATURE 
AND    AS    HISTORY 

KEGARDED  simply  from  the  standpoint  of  literary 
criticism,  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  is  Prescott's  master- 
piece. More  than  that,  it  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
examples  which  the  English  language  possesses  of 
literary  art  applied  to  historical  narration.  Its  theme 
is  one  which  contains  all  the  elements  of  the  romantic,  — 
the  chivalrous  daring  which  boldly  attempts  the  seem- 
ingly impossible,  the  struggle  of  the  few  against  over- 
whelming odds,  the  dauntless  heroism  which  never 
quails  in  the  presence  of  defeat,  desertion,  defiance,  or 
disaster,  the  spectacle  of  the  forces  of  one  civilisation 
arrayed  against  those  of  another,  the  white  man  striv- 
ing for  supremacy  over  the  red  man,  and  finally,  the 
True  Faith  in  arms  against  a  bloody  form  of  paganism. 
In  Prescott's  treatment  of  this  theme  we  find  displayed 
the  conscious  skill  of  the  born  artist  who  subordinates 
everything  to  the  dramatic  development  of  the  central 
motive.  The  style  is  Prescott's  at  its  best,  —  not  terse 
and  pointed  like  Macaulay's,  nor  yet  so  intimately  per- 
suasive as  that  of  Parkman,  but  nevertheless  free, 
flowing,  and  often  stately  —  the  fit  instrument  of  ex- 
pression for  a  sensitive  and  noble  mind.  Finally,  in 
this  book  Prescott  shows  a  power  of  depicting  charac- 
ter that  is  far  beyond  his  wont,  so  that  his  heroes  are 

133 


134  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

not  lay  figures  but  living  men.  We  need  not  wonder, 
then,  if  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  has  held  its  own  as 
literature,  and  if  to-day  it  is  as  widely  read  and  with 
the  same  breathless  interest  as  in  the  years  when  the 
world  first  felt  the  fascination  of  so  great  a  literary 
achievement. 

When  we  come  to  analyse  the  structure  of  the  nar- 
rative, we  find  that  one  secret  of  its  effectiveness  lies 
in  its  artistic  unity.  Prescott  had  studied  very  care- 
fully the  manner  in  which  Irving  had  written  the 
story  of  Columbus,  and  he  learned  a  valuable  lesson 
from  the  defects  of  his  contemporary.  In  a  memoran- 
dum dated  March.  21,  1841,  he  set  down  some  very 
shrewd  remarks. 

"  Have  been  looking  over  living's  Columbus  also.  A  beau- 
tiful composition,  but  fatiguing  as  a  whole  to  the  reader. 
Why?  The  fault  is  partly  in  the  subject,  partly  in  the 
manner  of  treating  it.  The  discovery  of  a  new  world  .  .  . 
is  a  magnificent  theme  in  itself,  full  of  sublimity  and  inter- 
est. But  it  terminates  with  the  discovery;  and,  unfor- 
tunately, this  is  made  before  half  of  the  first  volume  is 
disposed  of.  All  after  that  event  is  made  up  of  little  details, 
—  the  sailing  from  one  petty  island  to  another,  all  inhabited 
by  savages,  and  having  the  same  general  character.  Noth- 
ing can  be  more  monotonous,  and,  of  course,  more  likely  to 
involve  the  writer  in  barren  repetition.  .  .  .  Irving  should 
have  abridged  this  part  of  his  story,  and  instead  of  four 
volumes,  have  brought  it  into  two.  .  .  .  The  conquest  of 
Mexico,  though  very  inferior  in  the  leading  idea  which  forms 
*  its  basis  to  the  story  of  Columbus,  is,  on  the  whole,  a  far 
better  subject;  since  the  event  is  sufficiently  grand,  and,  as 
the  catastrophe  is  deferred,  the  interest  is  kept  up  through 
the  whole.  Indeed,  the  perilous  adventures  and  crosses  with 
which  the  enterprise  was  attended,  the  desperate  chances 
and  reverses  and  unexpected  vicissitudes,  all  serve  to  keep 
the  interest  alive.  On  my  plan,  I  go  on  with  Cortes  to  his 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  135 

death.    But  I  must  take  care  not  to  make  this  tail-piece  too 
long." 

This  is  a  bit  of  very  accurate  criticism;  and  the 
plan  which  Prescott  formed  was  executed  in  a  manner 
absolutely  faultless.  Never  for  a  moment  is  there  a 
break  in  the  continuity  of  its  narrative.  Never  for  a 
moment  do  we  lose  sight  of  the  central  and  inspiring 
figure  of  Corte*s  fighting  his  way,  as  it  were,  single- 
handed  against  the  intrigues  of  his  own  countrymen, 
the  half-heartedness  of  his  followers,  the  obstacles  of 
nature,  and  the  overwhelming  forces  of  his  Indian 
foes,  to  a  superb  and  almost  incredible  success.  Every- 
thing in  the  narrative  is  subordinated  to  this.  Every 
event  is  made  to  bear  directly  upon  the  development 
of  this  leading  motive.  The  art  of  Prescott  in  this 
book  is  the  art  of  a  great  dramatist  who  keeps  his  eye 
and  brain  intent  upon  the  true  catastrophe,  in  the  light 
of  which  alone  the  other  episodes  possess  significance. 
To'  the  general  reader  this  supreme  moment  comes 
when  Cortes  makes  his  second  entry  into  Mexico, 
returning  over  "the  black  arid  blasted  environs,"  to 
avenge  the  horrors  of  the  noche  triste,  and  in  one  last 
tremendous  assault  upon  the  capital  to  destroy  forever 
the  power  of  the  Aztecs  and  bring  Guatemozin  into 
the  possession  of  his  conqueror.  What  follows  after  is 
almost  superfluous  to  one  who  reads  the  story  for  the 
pure  enjoyment  which  it  gives.  It  is  like  the  last 
chapter  of  some  novels,  appended  to  satisfy  the  curios- 
ity of  those  who  wish  to  know  "  what  happened  after." 
In  nothing  has  Prescott  shown  his  literary  tact  more 
admirably  than  in  compressing  this  record  of  the 
aftermath  of  Conquest  within  the  limit  of  some  hun- 
dred pages. 


136  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

The  superiority  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  to  all  the 
rest  of  Prescott's  works  is  sufficiently  proved  by  one 
unquestioned  fact.  Though  we  read  his  other  books 
with  pleasure  and  unflagging  interest,  the  Conquest  of 
Mexico  alone  stamps  upon  our  minds  the  memory  of 
certain  episodes  which  are  told  so  vividly  as  never  to 
be  obliterated.  We  may  never  open  the  book  again ; 
yet  certain  pages  remain  part  and  parcel  of  our  intel- 
lectual possessions.  In  them  Prescott  has  risen  to  a 
height  of  true  greatness  as  a  story-teller  and  master- 
ful word-painter.  Of  these,  for  example,  is  the  account 
of  the  burning  of  the  ships,1  when  Cortes,  by  destroy- 
ing his  fleet,  cuts  off  from  his  wavering  troops  all 
hope  of  a  return  home  except  as  conquerors,  and  when, 
facing  them,  in  imminent  peril  of  death  at  their  hands, 
his  manly  eloquence  so  kindles  their  imagination  and 
stirs  their  fighting  blood  as  to  make  them  shout,  "  To 
Mexico  !  To  Mexico ! "  Another  striking  passage  is 
that  which  tells  of  what  happened  in  Cholula,  where 
the  little  army  of  Spaniards,  after  being  received  with 
a  show  of  cordial  hospitality,  learn  that  the  treacherous 
Aztecs  have  laid  a  plot  for  their  extermination.2 

"  That  night  was  one  of  deep  anxiety  to  the  army.  The 
ground  they  stood  on  seemed  loosening  beneath  their  feet, 
and  any  moment  might  be  the  one  marked  for  their  destruc- 
tion. Their  vigilant  general  took  all  possible  precautions 
for  their  safety,  increasing  the  number  of  sentinels,  and 
posting  his  guns  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  the  approaches 
to  the  camp.  His  eyes,  it  may  well  be  believed,  did  not 
close  during  the  night.  Indeed,  every  Spaniard  lay  down  in 
his  arms,  and  every  horse  stood  saddled  and  bridled,  ready 

1  i.  pp.  364-369.    Ed.  by  Kirk  (Philadelphia,  1873). 

2  For  a  revision  of  Prescott's  narrative  here  in  its  light  of  later 
research,  see  Bandolier,  The  Gilded  Man,  pp.  258-281  (New  York, 
1893). 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  137 

for  instant  service.  But  no  assault  was  meditated  by  the 
Indians,  and  the  stillness  of  the  hour  was  undisturbed  except 
by  the  occasional  sounds  heard  in  a  populous  city,  even  when 
buried  in  slumber,  and  by  the  hoarse  cries  of  the  priests 
from  the  turrets  of  the  teocallis,  proclaiming  through  their 
trumpets  the  watches  of  the  night." 1 

Here  is  true  literary  art  used  to  excite  in  the 
reader  the  same  fearfulness  and  apprehension  which 
the  Spaniards  themselves  experienced.  The  last  sen- 
tence has  a  peculiar  and  indescribable  effect  upon  the 
nerves,  so  that  in  the  following  chapter  we  feel  some- 
thing of  the  exultation  of  the  Castilian  soldier  when 
morning  breaks,  and  Cortes  receives  the  Cholulan 
chiefs,  astounds  them  by  revealing  that  he  knows  their 
plot,  and  then,  before  they  can  recover  from  their 
thunderstruck  amazement,  orders  a  general  attack  upon 
the  Indians  who  have  stealthily  gathered  to  destroy 
the  white  men.  The  battle-scene  which  follows  and 
of  which  a  part  is  quoted  here,  is  unsurpassed  by  any 
other  to  be  found  in  modern  history. 

"  Cortes  had  placed  his  battery  of  heavy  guns  in  a  position 
that  commanded  the  avenues,  and  swept  off  the  files  of  the 
assailants  as  they  rushed  on.  In  the  intervals  between  the  dis- 
charges, which,  in  the  imperfect  state  of  the  science  in  that 
day,  were  much  longer  than  in  ours,  he  forced  back  the  press 
by  charging  with  the  horse  into  the  midst.  The  steeds,  the 
guns,  the  weapons  of  the  Spaniards,  were  all  new  to  the 
Cholulans.  Notwithstanding  the  novelty  of  the  terrific 
spectacle,  the  flash  of  fire-arms  mingling  with  the  deafening 
roar  of  the  artillery  as  its  thunders  reverberated  among  the 
buildings,  the  despairing  Indians  pushed  on  to  take  the 
places  of  their  fallen  comrades. 

"  While  this  fierce  struggle  was  going  forward,  the  Tlas- 
<alans,  hearing  the  concerted  signal,  had  advanced  with 
quick  pace  into  the  city.  They  had  bound,  by  order  of 

i  ii.  p.  20. 


138  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  [CHAP. 

Cortes,  wreaths  of  sedge  round  their  heads,  that  they  might 
the  more  surely  be  distinguished  from  the  Cholulans.  Com- 
ing up  in  the  very  heat  of  the  engagement,  they  fell  on  the 
defenceless  rear  of  the  townsmen,  who,  trampled  down  under 
the  heels  of  the  Castilian  cavalry  on  one  side,  and  galled  by 
their  vindictive  enemies  on  the  other,  could  no  longer  main- 
tain their  ground.  They  gave  way,  some  taking  refuge  in 
the  nearest  buildings,  which,  being  partly  of  wood,  were 
speedily  set  on  fire.  Others  fled  to  the  temples.  One  strong 
party,  with  a  number  of  priests  at  its  head,  got  possession 
of  the  great  teocalli.  There  was  a  vulgar  tradition,  already 
alluded  to,  that  on  removal  of  part  of  the  walls  the  god 
would  send  forth  an  inundation  to  overwhelm  his  enemies. 
The  superstitious  Cholulans  with  great  difficulty  succeeded 
in  wrenching  away  some  of  the  stones  in  the  walls  of  the 
edifice.  But  dust,  not  water,  followed.  Their  false  god 
deserted  them  in  the  hour  of  need.  In  despair  they  flung 
themselves  into  the  wooden  turrets  that  crowned  the  temple, 
and  poured  down  stones,  javelins,  and  burning  arrows  on  the 
Spaniards,  as  they  climbed  the  great  staircase  which,  by  a 
flight  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  steps,  scaled  the  face  of  the 
pyramid.  But  the  fiery  shower  fell  harmless  on  the  steel 
bonnets  of  the  Christians,  while  they  availed  themselves  of 
the  burning  shafts  to  set  fire  to  the  wooden  citadel,  which 
was  speedily  wrapt  in  flames.  Still  the  garrison  held  out, 
and  though  quarter,  it  is  said,  was  offered,  only  one  Cholulan 
availed  himself  of  it.  The  rest  threw  themselves  headlong 
from  the  parapet,  or  perished  miserably  in  the  flames. 

"  All  was  now  confusion  and  uproar  in  the  fair  city  which 
had  so  lately  reposed  in  security  and  peace.  The  groans 
of  the  dying,  the  frantic  supplications  of  the  vanquished 
for  mercy,  were  mingled  with  the  loud  battle-cries  of 
the  Spaniards  as  they  rode  down  their  enemy,  and  with  the 
shrill  whistle  of  the  Tlascalans,  who  gave  full  scope  to  the 
long-cherished  rancour  of  ancient  rivalry.  The  tumult  was 
still  further  swelled  by  the  incessant  rattle  of  musketry  and 
the  crash  of  falling  timbers,  which  sent  up  a  volume  of  flame 
that  outshone  the  ruddy  light  of  morning,  making  altogether 
a  hideous  confusion  of  sights  and  sounds  that  converted  the 
Holy  City  into  a  Pandemonium." 


Tin.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  139 

This  spirited  description,  which,  deserves  compari- 
son with  Livy's  picture  of  the  rout  at  Cannae,  shows 
Prescott  at  his  best.  In  it  he  has  shaken  off  every 
trace  of  formalism  and  of  leisurely  repose.  His  blood 
is  up.  The  short,  nervous  sentences,  the  hurry  of  the 
narrative,  the  rapid  onrush  of  events,  rouse  the  reader 
and  fill  him  with  the  true  battle-spirit.  Of  an  en- 
tirely different  genre  is  the  account  of  the  entrance 
of  the  Spanish  army  into  Mexico  as  Montezuma's 
guest,  and  of  the  splendid  city  which  they  beheld,  — 
the  broad  streets  coated  with  a  hard  cement,  the  inter- 
secting canals,  the  inner  lake  darkened  by  thousands 
of  canoes,  the  great  market-places,  the  long  vista  of 
snowy  mansions,  their  inner  porticoes  embellished  with 
porphyry  and  jasper,  and  the  fountains  of  crystal 
water  leaping  up  and  glittering  in  the  sunlight.  Mem- 
orable, too,  is  the  scene  of  the  humiliation  of  Monte- 
zuma  when,  having  come  as  a  friend  to  the  quarters  of 
the  Spaniards,  he  is  fettered  like  a  slave ;  and  that  other 
scene,  no  less  painful,  where  the  fallen  monarch  ap- 
pears upon  the  walls  and  begs  his  people  to  desist  from, 
violence,  only  to  be  greeted  with  taunts  and  insults, 
and  a  shower  of  stones. 

But  most  impressive  of  all  and  most  unforgettable 
is  the  story  of  the  noclie  triste  —  the  Spanish  army  and 
their  Indian  allies  stealing  silently  and  at  dead  of 
night  out  of  the  city  which  but  a  short  time  before 
they  had  entered  with  so  brave  a  show. 

"  The  night  was  cloudy,  and  a  drizzling  rain,  which  fell 
without  intermission,  added  to  the  obscurity.  The  great 
square  before  the  palace  was  deserted,  as,  indeed,  it  had  been 
since  the  fall  of  Montezuma.  Steadily,  and  as  noiselessly  as 
possible,  the  Spaniards  held  their  way  along  the  great  street 


140  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRE SCOTT          [CHAP. 

of  Tlacopan,  which  so  lately  had  resounded  with  the  tumult 
of  battle.  All  was  now  hushed  in  silence ;  and  they  were 
only  reminded  of  the  past  by  the  occasional  presence  of  some 
solitary  corpse,  or  a  dark  heap  of  the  slain,  which  too  plainly 
told  where  the  strife  had  been  hottest.  As  they  passed  along 
the  lanes  and  alleys  which  opened  into  the  great  street,  or 
looked  down  the  canals,  whose  polished  surface  gleamed  with 
a  sort  of  ebon  lustre  through  the  obscurity  of  night,  they 
easily  fancied  that  they  discerned  the  shadowy  forms  of  their 
foe  lurking  in  ambush  and  ready  to  spring  on  them.  But 
it  was  only  fancy ;  and  the  city  slept  undisturbed  even  by 
the  prolonged  echoes  of  the  tramp  of  the  horses  and  the 
hoarse  rumbling  of  the  artillery  and  baggage-trains.  At 
length,  a  lighter  space  beyond  the  dusky  line  of  buildings 
showed  the  van  of  the  army  that  it  was  emerging  on  the 
open  causeway.  They  might  well  have  congratulated  them- 
selves on  having  thus  escaped  the  dangers  of  an  assault  in 
the  city  itself,  and  that  a  brief  time  would  place  them  in 
comparative  safety  on  the  opposite  shore.  But  the  Mexicans 
were  not  all  asleep. 

"  As  the  Spaniards  drew  near  the  spot  where  the  street 
opened  on  the  causeway,  and  were  preparing  to  lay  the  port- 
able bridge  across  the  uncovered  breach,  which  now  met 
their  eyes,  several  Indian  sentinels,  who  had  been  stationed 
at  this,  as  at  the  other  approaches  to  the  city,  took  the  alarm, 
and  fled,  rousing  their  countrymen  by  their  cries.  The  priests, 
keeping  their  night-watch  on  the  summit  of  the  teocallis,  in- 
stantly caught  the  tidings  and  sounded  their  shells,  while 
the  huge  drum  in  the  desolate  temple  of  the  war-god  sent 
forth  those  solemn  tones,  which,  heard  only  in  seasons  of 
calamity,  vibrated  through  every  corner  of  the  capital.  The 
Spaniards  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  .  .  .  Before  they 
had  time  to  defile  across  the  narrow  passage,  a  gathering 
sound  was  heard,  like  that  of  a  mighty  forest  agitated  by 
the  winds.  It  grew  louder  and  louder,  while  on  the  dark 
waters  of  the  lake  was  heard  a  plashing  noise,  as  of  many 
oars.  Then  came  a  few  stones  and  arrows  striking  at  random 
among  the  hurrying  troops.  They  fell  every  moment  faster 
and  more  furious,  till  they  thickened  into  a  terrible  tempest, 
while  the  very  heavens  were  rent  with  the  yells  and  war- 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  141 

cries  of  myriads  of  combatants,  who  seemed  all  at  once  to 
be  swarming  over  land  and  lake !  " 

What  reader  of  this  passage  can  forget  the  ominous, 
melancholy  note  of  that  great  war  drum  ?  It  is  one  of 
the  most  haunting  things  in  all  literature  —  like  the 
blood-stained  hands  of  the  guilty  queen  in  Macbeth, 
or  the  footprint  on  the  sand  in  Robinson  Crusoe,  or 
the  chill,  mirthless  laughter  of  the  madwoman  in 
Jane  Eyre. 

One  other  splendidly  vital  passage  is  that  which 
recounts  the  last  great  agony  on  the  retreat  from 
Mexico.  The  shattered  remnants  of  the  army  of 
Cortes  are  toiling  slowly  onward  to  the  coast,  faint 
with  famine  and  fatigue,  deprived  of  the  arms  which 
in  their  flight  they  had  thrown  away,  and  harassed 
by  their  dusky  enemies,  who  hover  about  them,  call- 
ing out  in  tones  of  menace,  "  Hasten  on !  You  will 
soon  find  yourselves  where  you  cannot  escape ! " 

"  As  the  army  was  climbing  the  mountain  steeps  which 
shut  in  the  Valley  of  Otompan,  the  vedettes  came  in  with 
the  intelligence  that  a  powerful  body  was  encamped  on  the 
other  side,  apparently  awaiting  their  approach.  The  intel- 
ligence was  soon  confirmed  by  their  own  eyes,  as  they  turned 
the  crest  of  the  sierra,  and  saw  spread  out,  below,  a  mighty 
host,  filling  up  the  whole  depth  of  the  valley,  and  giving  to 
it  the  appearance,  from  the  white  cotton  mail  of  the  warriors, 
of  being  covered  with  snow.  ...  As  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  were  to  be  seen  shields  and  waving  banners,  fantastic 
helmets,  forests  of  shining  spears,  the  bright  feather-mail  of 
the  chief,  and  the  coarse  cotton  panoply  of  his  follower,  all 
mingled  together  in  wild  confusion  and  tossing  to  and  fro 
like  the  billows  of  a  troubled  ocean.  It  was  a  sight  to  fill 
the  stoutest  heart  among  the  Christians  with  dismay,  height- 
ened by  the  previous  expectation  of  soon  reaching  the  friendly 
land  which  was  to  terminate  their  wearisome  pilgrimage. 


142  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Even  Cortes,  as  he  contrasted  the  tremendous  array  before 
him  with  his  own  diminished  squadrons,  wasted  by  disease 
and  enfeebled  by  hunger  and  fatigue,  could  not  escape  the 
conviction  that  his  last  hour  had  arrived."  1 

But  it  is  not  merely  in  vivid  narration  and  descrip- 
tion of  events  that  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  attains  so 
rare  a  degree  of  excellence.  Here,  as  nowhere  else, 
has  Prescott  succeeded  in  delineating  character.  All 
the  chief  actors  of  his  great  historic  drama  not  only 
live  and  breathe,  but  they  are  as  distinctly  differen- 
tiated as  they  must  have  been  in  life.  Cortes  and  his 
lieutenants  are  persons  whom  we  actually  come  to 
know  in  the  pages  of  Prescott,  just  as  in  the  pages 
of  Xenophon  we  come  to  know  Clearchus  and  the 
adventurous  generals  who,  like  Cortes,  made  their 
way  into  the  heart  of  a  great  empire  and  faced  bar- 
barians in  battle.  The  comparison  between  Xenophon 
and  Prescott  is,  indeed,  a  very  natural  one,  and  it  was 
made  quite  early  after  the  appearance  of  the  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  by  an  English  admirer,  Mr.  Thomas 
Grenville.  Calling  upon  this  gentleman  one  day,  Mr. 
Everett  found  him  in  his  library  reading  Xenophon's 
Anabasis  in  the  original  Greek.  Mr.  Everett  made 
some  casual  remark  upon  the  merits  of  that  book, 
whereupon  Mr.  Grenville  holding  up  a  volume  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  said,  "Here  is  one  far 
superior."  2 

Xenophon's  character-drawing  was  done  in  his  own 
way,  briefly  and  in  dry-point ;  yet  Clearchus,  Proxenus, 
and  Menon  are  not  more  subtly  distinguished  from  each 

1  ii.  pp.  379-380. 

2  Everett,  Memorial  Address,  delivered  before  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  (1859) , 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  143 

other  than  are  Cortes,  Sandoval,  and  Alvarado.  Cortes 
is  very  real,  —  a  bold,  martial  figure,  the  ideal  man  of 
action,  gallant  in  bearing  and  powerful  of  physique, 
tireless,  confident,  and  exerting  a  magnetic  influence 
over  all  who  come  into  his  presence;  gifted  also 
with  a  truly  Spanish  craft,  and  not  without  a  touch 
of  Spanish  cruelty.  Sandoval  is  the  true  knight, — 
loyal,  devoted  to  his  chief,  wise,  and  worthy  of  all 
trust.  Alvarado  is  the  reckless  man-at-arms,  —  daring 
to  desperation,  hot-tempered,  fickle,  and  passionate, 
yet  with  all  his  faults  a  man  to  extort  one's  liking, 
even  as  he  compelled  the  Aztecs  to  admire  him  for 
his  intrepidity  and  frankness.  Over  against  these 
three  brilliant  figures  stands  the  melancholy  form  of 
Montezuma,  around  whom,  even  from  the  first,  one 
feels  gathering  the  darkness  of  his  coming  fate.  He 
reminds  one  of  some  hero  of  Greek  tragedy,  doomed 
to  destruction  and  intensely  conscious  of  it,  yet  striv- 
ing in  vain  against  the  decree  of  an  inexorable  destiny. 
One  recalls  him  as  he  is  described  when  the  head  of 
a  Spanish  soldier  had  been  cut  off  and  sent  to  him. 

"  It  was  uncommonly  large  and  covered  with  hair ;  and,  as 
Montezuma  gazed  on  the  ferocious  features,  rendered  more 
horrible  by  death,  he  seemed  to  read  in  them  the  dark  linea- 
ments of  the  destined  destroyers  of  his  house.  He  turned 
from  it  with  a  shudder,  and  commanded  that  it  should  be 
taken  from  the  city,  and  not  offered  at  the  shrine  of  any 
of  his  gods."1 

The  contrast  between  this  dreamy,  superstitious, 
half-hearted,  and  almost  womanish  prince  and  his 
successor  Guatemozin  is  splendidly  worked  out. 
Guatemozin's  fierce  patriotism,  his  hatred  of  the 

i  ii.  p.  157. 


144  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Spaniards,  his  ferocity  in  battle,  and  his  stubborn 
unwillingness  to  yield  are  displayed  with  consum- 
mate art,  yet  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  one's  sympa- 
thy for  him  without  estranging  it  from  those  who 
conquered  him.  A  touch  of  sentiment  is  delicately 
infused  into  the  whole  narrative  of  the  Conquest  by 
the  manner  in  which  Prescott  has  treated  the  rela- 
tions of  Cortes  and  the  Indian  girl,  Marina.  Here 
we  find  interesting  evidence  of  Prescott's  innate 
purity  cf  mind  and  thought,  for  he  undoubtedly 
idealised  this  girl  and  suppressed,  or  at  any  rate 
passed  over  very  lightly,  the  truth  which  Bernal 
Diaz,  on  the  other  hand,  sets  forth  with  the  blunt 
coarseness  of  a  foul-mouthed  old  soldier.1  No  one 
would  gather  from  Prescott's  pages  that  Marina  had 
been  the  mistress  of  other  men  before  Corte's.  Nor 
do  we  get  any  hint  from  him  that  Corte's  wearied  of 
her  in  the  end,  and  thrust  her  off  upon  one  of  his  cap- 
tains whom  he  made  drunk  in  order  to  render  him  will- 
ing to  go  through  the  forms  of  marriage  with  her.  In 
Prescott's  narrative  she  is  lovely,  graceful,  generous, 
and  true ;  and  the  only  hint  that  is  given  of  her  former 
life  is  found  in  the  statement  that  "she  had  her 
errors." 2  To  his  readers  she  is,  after  a  fashion,  the 
heroine  of  the  Conquest, — the  tender,  affectionate  com- 
panion of  the  Conqueror,  sharing  his  dangers  or  avert- 
ing them,  and  not  seldom  mitigating  by  her  influence 
the  sternness  of  his  character.  Another  instance  of 
Prescott's  delicacy  of  mind  is  found  in  the  way  in 
which  he  glides  swiftly  over  the  whole  topic  of  the 
position  which  women  occupied  among  the  Aztecs, 
although  his  Spanish  sources  were  brutally  explicit  on 
*  Muijer  entremetida  y  desembuelta  (Diaz).  2  j.  p.  294. 


VIIL]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  145 

this  point.  There  were  some  things,  therefore,  from 
which  Prescott  shrank  instinctively  and  in  which  he 
allowed  his  sensitive  modesty  to  soften  and  refine  upon 
the  truth. 

The  mention  of  this  circumstance  leads  one  to  con- 
sider the  much-mooted  question  as  to  how  far  the  Con- 
quest of  Mexico  may  be  accepted  as  veracious  history. 
Is  it  history  at  all  or  is  it,  as  some  have  said,  histori- 
cal romance  ?  Are  we  to  classify  it  with  such  books  as 
those  of  Ranke  and  Parkman,  whose  brilliancy  of  style 
is  wholly  compatible  with  scrupulous  fidelity  to  historic 
fact,  or  must  we  think  of  it  as  verging  upon  the  category 
of  romances  built  up  around  the  material  which  history 
affords  —  with  books  like  Ivanhoe  and  Harold  and  Sa- 
lammbd  ?  In  the  years  immediately  following  its  publica- 
tion, Prescott' s  great  work  was  accepted  as  indubitably 
accurate.  His  imposing  array  of  foot-notes,  his  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  Spanish  chronicles,  and  the  un- 
stinted approval  given  to  him  by  contemporary  historians 
inspired  in  the  public  an  implicit  faith.  Then,  here  and 
there,  a  sceptic  began  to  raise  his  head,  and  to  question, 
not  the  good  faith  of  Prescott,  but  rather  the  value  of 
the  very  sources  upon  which  Prescott's  history  had  been 
built.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  long  before  Prescott's  time, 
the  reports  and  narratives  of  the  conquerors  had  in  parts 
been  doubted.  As  early  as  the  eighteenth  century 
Lafitau,  the  Jesuit  missionary,  in  a  treatise  published 
in  1723,1  had  discussed  with  great  acuteness  some  ques- 
tions of  American  ethnology  in  a  spirit  of  scientific  criti- 

1  Mceurs  des  Sauvages  Amtricains  Compares  aux  Moeurs  des 
Premiers  Temps  (Paris,  1723).  Lafitau  had  lived  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Iroquois  for  five  years,  after  which  he  returned  to  France 
and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  teaching  and  writing. 

L 


146  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

cism ;  and  later  in  the  same  century,  James  Adair  had 
gathered  valuable  material  in  the  same  department  of 
knowledge.1  Even  earlier,  the  Spanish  Jesuit,  Jose  de 
Acosta,  had  published  a  treatise  which  exhibits  traces 
of  a  critical  method.2  Again,  Robertson,  in  his  History 
of  America  (a  book,  by  the  way,  which  Prescott  had 
studied  very  carefully),  shows  an  independence  of  atti- 
tude and  an  acumen  which  find  expression  in  a  definite 
disagreement  with  much  that  had  been  set  down  by 
the  Spanish  chroniclers.  Such  criticism  as  these  and 
other  isolated  writers  had  brought  to  bear  was  directed 
against  that  part  of  the  accepted  tradition  which  re- 
lates to  the  Aztec  civilisation.  Prescott,  following  the 
notices  of  Las  Casas,  Herrera,  Bernal  Diaz,  Oviedo, 
Cortes  himself,  and  the  writer  who  is  known  as  the 
conquistador  anonimo,  had  simply  weighed  the  asser- 
tions of  one  as  against  those  of  another,  striving  to 
reconcile  their  discrepancies  of  statement  and  follow- 
ing one  rather  than  the  other,  according  to  the  appar- 
ent preponderance  of  probability.  He  did  not,  however, 
perceive  in  these  discrepancies  the  clue  which  might 
have  guided  him,  as  it  subsequently  did  others,  to  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  actual  facts.  Therefore, 
he  has  painted  for  us  the  Mexico  of  Montezuma  in 
gorgeous  colours,  seeing  in  it  a  great  Empire,  possessed 
of  a  civilisation  no  less  splendid  than  that  of  Western 
Europe,  and  exhibiting  a  political  and  social  system 
comparable  with  that  which  Europeans  knew.  The 
magnificence  and  wealth  of  this  fancied  Empire  gave, 
indeed,  the  necessary  background  to  his  story  of  the 
Conquest.  It  was  a  stage  setting  which  raised  the 

1  The  History  of  the  American  Indians  (London,  1775). 

2  Historia  Natural  y  Moral  de  las  Indias  (Seville,  1590). 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  147 

exploits  of  the  conquerors  to  a  lofty  and  almost  epic 
altitude. 

The  first  serious  attempt  directly  to  discredit  the 
accuracy  of  this  description  was  made  by  an  American 
writer,  Mr.  Robert  A.  Wilson.  Wilson  was  an  enthu- 
siastic amateur  who  took  a  particular  interest  in  the 
ethnology  of  the  American  Indians.  He  had  travelled 
in  Mexico.  He  knew  something  of  the  Indians  of  our 
Western  territory,  and  he  had  read  the  Spanish  chroni- 
clers. The  result  of  his  observations  was  a  thorough 
disbelief  in  the  traditional  picture  of  Aztec  civilisa- 
tion. .  He,  therefore,  set  out  to  demolish  it  and  to 
offer  in  its  place  a  substitute  based  upon  such  facts 
as  he  had  gathered  and  such  theories  as  he  had 
formed.  After  publishing  a  preliminary  treatise  which 
attracted  some  attention,  he  wrote  a  bulky  volume  en- 
titled A  New  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico*  In 
the  introduction  to  this  book  he  declares  that  his  visit 
to  Mexico  had  shaken  his  belief  "  in  those  Spanish  his- 
toric romances  upon  which  Mr.  Prescott  has  founded 
his  magnificent  tale  of  the  conquest  of  Mexico."  He 
adds  that  the  despatches  of  Cortes  are  the  only  valu- 
able written  authority,  and  that  these  consist  of  two 
distinct  parts,  —  first,  "an  accurate  detail  of  adven- 
tures consistent  throughout  with  the  topography  of 
the  region  in  which  they  occurred " ;  and  second,  "  a 
mass  of  foreign  material,  apparently  borrowed  from 
fables  of  the  Moorish  era,  for  effect  in  Spain."  "It 
was  not  in  great  battles,  but  in  a  rapid  succession  of 
skirmishes,  that  he  distinguished  himself  and  won  the 
character  ...  of  an  adroit  leader  in  Indian  war." 
Wilson  endeavours  to  show,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
i  Philadelphia,  1869. 


148  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

Aztecs  were  simply  a  branch  of  the  American  Indian 
race ;  that  their  manners  and  customs  were  essentially 
those  of  the  more  northern  tribes ;  that  the  origin  of 
the  whole  race  was  Phoenician ;  and  that  the  Spanish 
account  of  early  Mexico  is  almost  wholly  fabulous. 
Writing  of  the  different  historians  of  the  Conquest,  he 
mentions  Prescott  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"  A  more  delicate  duty  remains,  —  to  speak  freely  of  an 
American  whose  success  in  the  field  of  literature  has  raised 
him  to  the  highest  rank.  His  talents  have  not  only  im- 
mortalised himself  —  they  have  added  a  new  charm  to  the 
subject  of  his  histories.  He  showed  his  faith  by  the  expen- 
diture of  a  fortune  at  the  commencement  of  his  enterprise, 
in  the  purchase  of  books  and  Mss.  relating  to  '  America  of 
the  Spaniards.'  These  were  the  materials  out  of  which  he 
framed  his  two  histories  of  the  two  aboriginal  empires, 
Mexico  and  Peru.  At  the  time  these  works  were  written  he 
could  not  have  had  the  remotest  idea  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  his  Spanish  authorities  had  been  produced,  or  of 
the  external  pressure  that  gave  them  their  peculiar  form  and 
character.  He  could  hardly  understand  that  peculiar  organi- 
sation of  Spanish  society  through  which  one  set  of  opinions 
might  be  uniformly  expressed  in  public,  while  the  intellect- 
ual classes  in  secret  entertain  entirely  opposite  ones.  He 
acted  throughout  in  the  most  perfect  good  faith ;  and  if,  on 
a  subsequent  scrutiny,  his  authorities  have  proved  to  be  the 
fabulous  creations  of  Spanish-Arabian  fancy,  he  is  not  in 
fault.  They  were  the  standards  when  he  made  use  of  them 
—  a  sufficient  justification  of  his  acts.  *  This  beautiful  world 
we  inhabit,'  said  an  East  Indian  philosopher,  '  rests  on  the 
back  of  a  mighty  elephant;  the  elephant  stands  on  the  back  of 
a  monster  turtle  ;  the  turtle  rests  upon  a  serpent ;  and  the  ser- 
pent on  nothing.'  Thus  stand  the  literary  monuments  Mr. 
Prescott  has  constructed.  They  are  castles  resting  upon  a  cloud 
which  reflects  an  eastern  sunrise  upon  a  western  horizon." 

This  book  appeared  in  the  year  of  Prescott's  death, 
and  he  himself  made  no  published  comment  on  it.  A 


vni.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  149 

very  sharp  notice,  however,  was  written  by  some  one 
who  did  not  sign  his  name,  but  who  was  undoubtedly 
very  near  to  Prescott.1  The  writer  of  this  notice  had 
little  difficulty  in  showing  that  Wilson  was  a  very 
slipshod  investigator;  that  he  was  in  many  respects 
ignorant  of  the  very  authorities  whom  he  attempted 
to  refute;  and  that  as  a  writer  he  was  very  crude 
indeed.  Some  portions  of  this  paper  may  be  quoted, 
mainly  because  they  sum  up  such  of  Mr.  Wilson's 
points  as  were  in  reality  important.  The  first  para- 
graph has  also  a  somewhat  personal  interest. 

"  Directly  and  knowingly,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show,  he  has 
availed  himself  of  Mr.  Prescott's  labours  to  an  extent  which 
demanded  the  most  ample  'acknowledgment.'  No  such 
acknowledgment  is  made.  But  we  beg  to  ask  Mr.  Wilson 
whether  there  were  not  other  reasons  why  he  should  have 
spoken  of  this  eminent  writer,  if  not  with  deference,  at  least 
with  respect.  He  himself  informs  us  that  '  most  kindly  re- 
lations '  existed  between  them.  If  we  are  not  misinformed, 
Mr.  Wilson  opened  the  correspondence  by  modestly  request- 
ing the  loan  of  Mr.  Prescott's  collection  of  works  relating  to 
Mexican  history,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  him  to  write 
a  refutation  of  the  latter's  History  of  the  Conquest.  That 
the  replies  which  he  received  were  courteous  and  kindly,  we 
need  hardly  say.  He  was  informed,  that,  although  the  con- 
stant use  made  of  the  collection  by  its  possessor  for  the  cor- 
rection of  his  own  work  must  prevent  a  full  compliance 
with  this  request,  yet  any  particular  books  which  he  might 
designate  should  be  sent  to  him,  and,  if  he  were  disposed 
to  make  a  visit  to  Boston,  the  fullest  opportunities  should 
be  granted  him  for  the  prosecution  of  his  researches.  This 
invitation  Mr.  Wilson  did  not  think  fit  to  accept.  Books 
which  were  got  in  readiness  for  transmission  to  him  he  failed 
to  send  for.  He  had,  in  the  meantime,  discovered  that  '  the 
American  standpoint '  did  not  require  any  examination  of 

1  Atlantic  Monthly,  iii,  pp.  51&-525  and  pp.  633-645. 


150  WILLIAM   HICKLING   PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

'  authorities/  We  regret  that  it  should  also  have  rendered 
superfluous  an  acquaintance  with  the  customs  of  civilised 
society.  The  tone  in  which  he  speaks  of  his  distinguished 
predecessor  is  sometimes  amusing  from  the  conceit  which 
it  displays,  sometimes  disgusting  from  its  impudence  and 
coarseness.  He  concedes  Mr.  Prescott's  good  faith  in  the 
use  of  his  materials.  It  was  only  his  ignorance  and  want  of 
the  proper  qualifications  that  prevented  him  from  using  them 
aright.  'His  non-acquaintance  with  Indian  character  is 
much  to  be  regretted.'  Mr.  Wilson  himself  enjoys,  as  he  tells 
us,  the  inestimable  advantage  of  being  the  son  of  an  adopted 
member  of  the  Iroquois  tribe.  Nay,  *  his  ancestors,  for  sev- 
eral generations,  dwelt  near  the  Indian  agency  at  Cherry 
Valley,  on  Wilson's  Patent,  though  in  Cooperstown  village 
was  he  born.'  We  perceive  the  author's  fondness  for  the  in- 
verted style  in  composition,  —  acquired,  perhaps,  in  the  course 
of  his  long  study  of  aboriginal  oratory.  Even  without  such 
proofs,  and  without  his  own  assertion  of  the  fact,  it  would 
not  have  been  difficult,  we  think,  to  conjecture  his  familiar- 
ity with  the  forms  of  speech  common  among  barbarous 
nations.  .  .  . 

"Mr.  Wilson  .  .  .  has  found,  from  his  own  observation, — 
the  only  source  of  knowledge,  if  such  it  can  be  called,  on  which 
he  is  willing  to  place  much  reliance,  —  that  the  Ojibways 
and  Iroquois  are  savages,  and  he  rightly  argues  that  their 
ancestors  must  have  been  savages.  From  these  premises, 
without  any  process  of  reasoning,  he  leaps  at  once  to  the 
conclusion,  that  in  no  part  of  America  could  the  aboriginal 
inhabitants  ever  have  lived  in  any  other  than  a  savage  state. 
Hence  he  tells  us,  that,  in  all  statements  regarding  them, 
everything  'must  be  rejected  that  is  inconsistent  with  well- 
established  Indian  traits.'  The  ancient  Mexican  empire  was, 
according  to  his  showing,  nothing  more  than  one  of  those 
confederacies  of  tribes  with  which  the  reader  of  early  New 
England  history  is  perfectly  familiar.  The  far-famed  city  of 
Mexico  was  '  an  Indian  village  of  the  first  class,'  —  such,  we 
may  hope,  as  that  which  the  author  saw  on  his  visit  to  the 
Massasaugus,  where,  to  his  immense  astonishment,  he  found 
the  people  '  clothed,  and  in  their  right  minds.'  The  Aztecs, 
he  argues,  could  not  have  built  temples,  for  the  Iroquois  do 


vni.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  151 

not  build  temples.  The  Aztecs  could  not  have  been  idolaters 
or  offered  up  human  sacrifices,  for  the  Iroquois  are  not  idola- 
ters and  do  not  offer  up  human  sacrifices.  The  Aztecs  could 
not  have  been  addicted  to  cannibalism,  for  the  Iroquois  never 
eat  human  flesh,  unless  driven  to  it  by  hunger.  This  is 
what  Mr.  Wilson  means  by  the  « American  standpoint ' ;  and 
those  who  adopt  his  views  may  consider  the  whole  question 
settled  without  any  debate."  .  .  . 

"  If,  at  Mr.  Wilson's  summons,  we  reject  as  improbable  a 
series  of  events  supported  by  far  stronger  evidence  than  can 
be  adduced  for  the  conquests  of  Alexander,  the  Crusades,  or 
the  Norman  conquest  of  England,  what  is  it,  we  may  ask, 
that  he  calls  upon  us  to  believe  ?  His  scepticism,  as  so  often 
happens,  affords  the  measure  of  his  credulity.  He  con- 
tends that  Cortes,  the  greatest  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  man  little  acquainted  with  books,  but  endowed 
with  a  gigantic  genius  and  with  all  the  qualities  requisite 
for  success  in  warlike  enterprises  and  an  adventurous 
career,  had  his  brain  so  filled  with  the  romances  of  chivalry, 
and  so  preoccupied  with  reminiscences  of  the  Spanish  con- 
tests with  the  Moslems,  that  he  saw  in  the  New  World 
nothing  but  duplicates  of  those  contests,  —  that  his  heated 
imagination  turned  wigwams  into  palaces,  Indian  villages 
into  cities  like  Granada,  swamps  into  lakes,  a  tribe  of  sav- 
ages into  an  empire  of  civilised  men,  —  that,  in  the  midst  of 
embarrassments  and  dangers  which,  even  on  Mr.  Wilson's 
showing,  must  have  taxed  all  his  faculties  to  the  utmost,  he 
employed  himself  chiefly  in  coining  lies  with  which  to  de- 
ceive his  imperial  master  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Christen- 
dom, —  that,  although  he  had  a  host  of  powerful  enemies 
among  his  countrymen,  enemies  who  were  in  a  position  to 
discover  the  truth,  his  statements  passed  unchallenged  and 
uncontradicted  by  them, — that  the  numerous  adventurers  and 
explorers  who  followed  in  his  track,  instead  of  exposing  the 
falsity  of  his  relations  and  descriptions,  found  their  interest 
in  embellishing  the  narrative." 

Of  course  Wilson's  book  was  unscientific  to  a  degree, 
with  its  Phrenician  theories,  its  estimate  of  Spanish 
sources  of  information,  and  its  assorted  ignorance  of 


152  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

many  things.  Its  author,  had,  however,  stumbled 
upon  a  bit  of  truth  which  no  ridicule  could  shake,  and 
which  proved  fruitful  in  suggestion  to  a  very  different 
kind  of  investigator.  This  was  Mr.  Lewis  Henry 
Morgan,  an  important  name  in  the  history  of  American 
ethnological  study.  As  a  young  man  Morgan  had  felt 
an  interest  in  the  American  Indian,  which  developed 
into  a  very  unusual  enthusiasm.  It  led  him  ultimately 
to  spend  a  long  time  among  the  Iroquois,  studying  their 
tribal  organisation  and  social  phenomena.  He  em- 
Bodied  the  knowledge  so  obtained  in  a  book  entitled 
The  League  of  the  Iroquois?  a  truly  epoch-making  work, 
though  the  author  himself  was  at  the  time  wholly 
unaware  of  its  far-reaching  importance.  This  book 
described  the  forms  of  government,  the  social  organisa- 
tion, the  manners  and  the  customs  of  the  Iroquois, 
with  great  accuracy  and  thoroughness.  Seven  years 
later,  Morgan  happened  to  fall  in  with  a  camp  of  Ojib- 
way  Indians,  and  found  to  his  astonishment  that  their 
tribal  customs  were  practically  identical  with  those  of 
the  Iroquois.  While  this  coincidence  was  fresh  in  his 
mind,  Morgan  read  Wilson's  iconoclastic  book  on  Mex- 
ico. The  suggestion  made  by  Wilson  that  the  Aztec 
civilisation  was  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the 
northern  tribes  of  Ked  Indians  did  much  to  crystallise 
the  hypothesis  which  has  now  been  definitely  estab- 
lished as  a  fact. 

Those  who  do  not  care  to  read  a  long  series  of 
monographs  and  several  large  volumes  in  order  to 
arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  what  recent  ethnologists 
hold  as  true  of  Ancient  Mexico  may  find  the  essence 
of  accepted  doctrine  somewhat  divertingly  set  forth 
1  New  York,  1851. 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  153 

in  a  paper  written  by  Mr.  Morgan  in  criticism  of  H. 
H.  Bancroft's  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States.  Mr. 
Morgan's  paper  is  entitled  "Montezuma's  Dinner."1 
In  it  the  statement  is  briefly  made  that  the  Aztecs 
were  simply  one  branch  of  the  same  Red  Kace  which 
extended  all  over  the  American  Continent ;  that  their 
forms  of  government,  their  usages,  and  their  occu- 
pations were  not  in  kind  different  from  those  of 
the  Iroquois,  the  Ojibways,  or  any  other  of  the  North 
American  Indian  tribes.  These  institutions  and  cus- 
toms found  no  analogues  among  civilised  nations,  and 
could  not,  in  their  day,  be  explained  in  terms  intel- 
ligible to  contemporary  Europeans.  Hence,  when 
the  Spaniards  under  Cortes  discovered  in  Mexico  a 
definite  and  fully  developed  form  of  civilisation, 
instead  of  studying  it  on  the  assumption  that  it 
might  be  different  from  their  own,  they  described  it, 
as  Mr.  A.  F.  Bandelier  has  well  said,  "  in  terms  of 
comparison  selected  from  types  accessible  to  the  lim- 
ited knowledge  of  the  times." 2  Thus,  they  beheld  in 
Montezuma  an  "emperor"  surrounded  by  "kings," 
"  princes,"  "  nobles,"  and  "  generals."  His  residence 
was  to  them  an  imperial  palace.  His  mode  of  life 
showed  the  magnificent  and  stately  etiquette  of  a 
European  monarch,  with  lords-in-waiting,  court  jesters, 
pages,  secretaries,  and  household  guards.  In  narrat- 
ing all  these  things,  the  first  Spanish  observers  were 
wholly  honest,  although  in  their  enthusiasm  they 
added  many  a  touch  of  literary  colour.  Their  records 

1  North  American  Review,  cxxii,  pp.  265-308  (1876). 

2  The  Romantic  School  of  American  Archxology.    A  paper  read 
before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  February  3, 1885  (New 
York,  1885). 


154  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

are  paralleled  by  those  of  the  English  explorers  who, 
in  New  England,  thought  they  had  found  "  kings " 
among  the  Pequods  and  Narragansetts,  and  who,  in 
Virginia,  viewed  Powhatan  as  an  "emperor"  and 
Pocahontas  as  a  "princess."  That  the  Spaniards, 
like  the  English,  wrote  in  ignorant  good  faith,  rather 
than  with  a  desire  to  deceive,  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  they  actually  did  record  circumstances  which 
even  then,  if  critically  studied,  would  have  shown 
the  falsity  of  their  general  belief.  Thus,  as  Mr. 
Bandelier  points  out,  the  Spaniards  tell  of  the  Aztecs 
that  they  had  great  wealth,  reared  great  palaces, 
and  acquired  both  scientific  knowledge  and  skill  in 
art,  while  in  mechanical  appliances  they  remained 
on  the  level  of  the  savage,  using  stone  and  flint 
for  tools  and  weapons,  making  pottery  without  the 
potter's  wheel,  and  weaving  intricate  patterns  with 
the  hand-loom  only.  Equally  inconsistent  are  the 
statements  that  the  Aztecs  were  mild,  gentle,  vir- 
tuous, and  kind,  and  yet  that  they  sacrificed  their 
prisoners  with  the  most  savage  rites,  made  war  that 
they  might  secure  more  sacrificial  victims,  viewed 
marriage  as  a  barter,  and  regarded  chastity  as  a  re- 
straint.1 Still  further  inconsistencies  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Spanish  accounts  of  the  Aztec  government. 
Montezuma,  for  instance,  is  picturesquely  held  to  have 
been  an  absolute  ruler,  one  whose  very  name  aroused 
awe  and  veneration  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  his 
vast  dominions ;  and  yet  it  is  recorded  that  while  still 
alive  he  was  superseded  by  Guatemozin;  and  even 
Acosta  notes  that  there  was  a  council  without  whose 
consent  nothing  of  importance  could  be  done.  In  fact, 
1  Bandelier,  op.  cit.,  p.  8. 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  155 

under  the  solvent  of  Mr.  Morgan's  criticism,  the  gor- 
geous Aztec  empire  of  Cortes  and  Prescott  shrinks  to 
very  modest  proportions.  Montezuma  is  transformed 
from  an  hereditary  monarch  into  an  elective  war-chief. 
His  dominions  become  a  territory  of  about  the  size 
of  the  state  of  Ehode  Island.  His  capital  appears  as 
a  stronghold  built  amid  marshes  and  surrounded  by 
flat-roofed  houses  of  adobe  ;  while  his  "  palace  "  is  a 
huge  communal-house,  built  of  stone  and  lime,  and  in- 
habited by  his  gentile  kindred,  united  in  one  house- 
hold. The  magnificent  feast  which  the  Spaniards 
describe  so  lusciously,  —  the  throned  king  served  by 
beautiful  women  and  by  stewards  who  knelt  before 
him  without  daring  to  lift  their  eyes,  the  dishes  of 
gold  and  silver,  the  red  and  black  Cholulan  jars  filled 
with  foaming  chocolate,  the  "  ancient  lords  "  attending 
at  a  distance,  the  orchestra  of  flutes,  reeds,  horns,  and 
kettle-drums,  and  the  three  thousand  guards  without 
—  all  this  is  converted  by  Morgan  into  a  sort  of  bar- 
baric buffet-luncheon,  with  Montezuma  squatting  on  the 
floor,  surrounded  by  his  relatives  in  breech-clouts,  and 
eating  a  meal  prepared  in  a  common  cook-house,  divided 
at  a  common  kettle,  and  eaten  out  of  an  earthen  bowl. 
One  need  not,  however,  lend  himself  to  so  complete 
a  disillusionment  as  Mr.  Morgan  in  this  paper  seeks 
to  thrust  upon  us.  Still  more  recent  investigations, 
such  as  those  of  Brinton,  McGee,  and  Bandelier,  have 
restored  some  of  the  prestige  which  Cortes  and  his 
followers  attached  to  the  early  Mexicans.  While  the 
Aztecs  were  very  far  from  possessing  a  monarchical 
form  of  government,  and  while  their  society  was  con- 
stituted far  differently  from  that  of  any  European 
community,  and  while  they  are  to  be  studied  simply 


156  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

as  one  division  of  the  Ked  Indian  race,  they  were 
scarcely  so  primitive  as  Mr.  Morgan  would  have  us 
think.  They  differed  from  their  more  northern  kin- 
dred not,  to  be  sure,  in  kind,  but  very  greatly  in 
degree.  Though  we  have  to  substitute  the  communal- 
house  for  the  palace,  the  war-chief  for  the  king, 
and  the  tribal  organisation  for  the  feudal  system, 
there  still  remains  a  great  and  interesting  people, 
fully  organised,  rich,  warlike,  and  highly  skilled  in 
their  own  arts.  In  architecture,  weaving,  gold  and  sil- 
ver work,  and  pottery,  they  achieved  artistic  wonders. 
Their  instinct  for  the  decorative  produced  results  which 
justified  the  admiration  of  their  conquerors.  Their 
capital,  though  it  was  not  the  immense  city  which 
the  Spaniards  saw,  teeming  with  a  vast  population, 
was,  nevertheless,  an  imposing  collection  of  mansions, 
great  and  small,  whose  snowy  whiteness,  standing 
out  against  the  greenery  and  diversified  by  glimpses 
of  water,  might  well  impress  the  imagination  of  Euro- 
pean strangers.  If  the  communal-houses  lacked  the 
"  golden  cupolas  "  of  Disraeli's  Oriental  fancy,  neither 
were  they  the  "  mud  huts  "  which  Wilson  tells  of.  If 
Montezuma  was  not  precisely  an  occidental  Charles  the 
Fifth,  neither  is  he  to  be  regarded  as  an  earlier  Sitting 
Bull. 

So  far,  then,  as  we  have  to  modify  Prescott's  chapters 
which  describe  the  Mexico  of  Cortes,  this  modification 
consists  largely  in  a  mere  change  of  terminology. 
Following  the  Spanish  records,  he  has  accurately  re- 
produced just  what  the  Spaniards  saw,  or  thought  they 
saw,  in  old  TenochtHlan.  He  has  looked  at  all  things 
through  their  eyes ;  and  such  errors  as  he  made  were 
the  same  errors  which  they  had  made  while  they  were 


vui.]  "CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO"  157 

standing  in  the  great  pueblo  which  was  to  them  the 
scene  of  so  much  suffering  and  of  so  great  a  final 
triumph.  When  Prescott  wrote,  there  lived  no  man 
who  could  have  gainsaid  him.  His  story  represents 
the  most  accurate  information  which  was  then  attain- 
able. As  Mr.  Thorpe  has  well  expressed  it :  "  No 
historian  is  responsible  for  not  using  undiscovered 
evidence.  Prescott  wrote  from  the  archives  of  Europe 
.  .  .  from  the  European  side.  If  one  cares  to  know 
how  the  Old  World  first  understood  the  New,  he  will 
read  Prescott."  Even  Morgan,  who  goes  further  in 
his  destructive  criticism  than  any  other  authoritative 
writer,  admits  that  Prescott  and  his  sources  "  may  be 
trusted  in  whatever  relates  to  the  acts  of  the  Span- 
iards, and  to  the  acts  and  personal  characteristics  of 
the  Indians ;  in  whatever  relates  to  their  weapons,  im- 
plements and  utensils,  fabrics,  food  and  raiment,  and 
things  of  a  similar  character."  Only  in  what  relates 
to  their  government,  social  relations,  and  plan  of  life 
does  the  narrative  need  to  be  in  part  rewritten.  It 
is  but  fair  to  note  that  Prescott  himself,  in  his  pre- 
liminary chapters  on  the  Aztecs,  is  far  from  dog- 
matising. His  statements  are  made  with  a  distinct 
reserve,  and  he  acknowledges  alike  the  difficulty  of 
the  subject  and  his  doubts  as  to  the  finality  of  what 
he  tells.  Even  in  his  descriptive  passages,  he  is  solici- 
tous lest  the  warm  imagination  of  the  Spanish  chronic- 
lers may  have  led  them  to  throw  too  high  a  light  on 
what  they  saw.  Thus,  after  ending  his  account  of  Mon- 
tezuma's  household  and  the  Aztec  "  court,"  drawn  from 
the  pages  of  Bernal  Diaz,  Toribio,  and  Oviedo,  he  quali- 
fies its  gorgeousness  in  the  following  sentence  : 1  — 
Hi.  p.  125, 


158  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

"  Such  is  the  picture  of  Montezuma's  domestic  establish- 
ment and  way  of  living  as  delineated  by  the  Conquerors 
and  their  immediate  followers,  who  bad  the  best  means  of 
information ;  too  highly  coloured,  it  may  be,  by  the  prone- 
ness  to  exaggerate  which  was  -natural  to  those  who  first  wit- 
nessed a  spectacle  so  striking  to  the  imagination,  so  new  and 
unexpected." 

And  in  a  foot-note  on  the  same  page  he  expressly 
warns  the  student  of  history  against  the  fanciful  chap- 
ters of  the  Spaniards  who  wrote  a  generation  later, 
comparing  their  accounts  with  the  stories  in  the 
Arabian  Nights. 

Putting  aside,  then,  the  single  topic  of  Aztec  eth- 
nology and  tribal  organisation,  it  remains  to  see  how 
far  the  rest  of  Prescott's  history  of  the  Conquest  has 
stood  the  test  of  recent  criticism.  Here  one  finds  him- 
self on  firmer  ground,  and  it  may  be  asserted  with 
entire  confidence  that  Prescott's  accuracy  cannot  be 
impeached  in  aught  that  is  essential  to  the  truth  of 
history.  His  careful  use  of  his  authorities,  and  his 
excellent  judgment  in  checking  the  evidence  of  one 
by  the  evidence  of  another,  remain  unquestioned.  In 
one  respect  alone  has  fault  been  found  with  him.  His 
desire  to  avail  himself  of  every  possible  aid  caused 
him  to  procure,  often  with  great  difficulty  and  at 
great  expense,  documents,  or  copies  of  documents, 
which  had  hitherto  been  inaccessible  to  the  investi- 
gator. So  far  he  was  acting  in  the  spirit  of  the  truly 
scientific  scholar.  But  sometimes  the  very  rarity  of 
these  new  sources  led  him  to  attach  an  undue  value 
to  them.  Here  and  there  he  has  followed  them  as 
against  the  more  accessible  authorities,  even  when  the 
latter  were  altogether  trustworthy.  In  this  we  find 


viii.]  "CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO"  159 

something  of  the  passion  of  the  collector;  and  now 
and  then  in  minor  matters  it  has  led  him  into  error.1 
Thus,  in  certain  passages  relating  to  the  voyage  of 
Cortes  from  Havana,  Prescott  has  misstated  the  course 
followed  by  the  pilot,  as  again  with  regard  to  the  ex- 
pedition from  Santiago  de  Cuba 2 ;  and  he  errs  because 
he  has  followed  a  manuscript  copy  of  Juan  Diaz,  over- 
looking the  obviously  correct  and  consistent  accounts 
of  Bernal  Diaz  and  other  standard  chroniclers.  There 
are  similar  though  equally  unimportant  slips  elsewhere 
in  his  narrative,  arising  from  the  same  cause.  None 
of  them,  however,  affects  the  essential  accuracy  of  his 
text.  His  masterpiece  stands  to-day  still  fundament- 
ally unshaken,  a  faithful  and  brilliant  panorama  of 
a  wonderful  episode  in  history.  Those  who  are  in- 
clined to  question  its  veracity  do  so,  not  because  they 
can  give  substantial  reasons  for  their  doubt,  but  be- 
cause, perhaps,  of  the  romantic  colouring  which  Pres- 
cott has  infused  into  his  whole  narrative,  because  it  is 
as  entertaining  as  a  novel,  and  because  he  had  the  art 
to  transmute  the  acquisitions  of  laborious  research 
into  an  enduring  monument  of  pure  literature. 

1  "  Though  remarkably  fair  and  judicious  in  the  main,  Mr.  Pres- 
cott's  partiality  for  a  certain  class  of  his  material  is  evident.     To 
the  copies  from  the  Spanish  archives,  most  of  which  have  been 
since  published  with  hundreds  of  others  equally  or  more  valuable, 
he  seemed  to   attach  an  importance  proportionate  to  their  cost. 
Thus,  throughout  his  entire  work,  these  papers   are   paraded  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  more  reliable,  but  more  accessible  standard 
authorities."  —  H.  H.  Bancroft,  History  of  Mexico,  i.  p.  7,  Note. 

2  i.  pp.  222,  224. 


CHAPTER  IX 

"  THE    CONQUEST    OF    PERU  " "  PHILIP   II." 

THE  Conquest  of  Peru  was,  for  the  most  part,  written 
more  rapidly  than  any  other  of  Prescott's  histories. 
Much  of  the  material  necessary  for  it  had  been  ac- 
quired during  his  earlier  studies,  and  with  this  mate- 
rial he  had  been  long  familiar  when  he  began  to  write 
The  book  was,  indeed,  as  he  himself  described  it,  a 
pendant  to  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.  Had  the  latter 
work  not  been  written,  it  is  likely  that  the  Conquest 
of  Peru  would  be  now  accepted  as  the  most  popular 
of  Prescott's  works.  Unfortunately,  it  is  always  sub- 
jected to  a  comparison  with  the  other  and  greater  book, 
and  therefore,  relatively,  it  suffers.  In  the  first  place, 
when  so  compared,  it  resembles  an  imperfect  replica 
of  the  Mexico  rather  than  an  independent  history. 
The  theme  is,  in  its  nature,  the  same,  and  so  it  lacks 
the  charm  of  novelty.  The  exploits  of  Pizarro  do  not 
merely  recall  to  the  modern  reader  the  adventurous 
achievements  of  Cortes,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
were  actually  inspired  by  them.  Thus,  Pizarro's 
march  from  the  coast  over  the  Andes  closely  resem- 
bles the  march  of  Cortes  over  the  Cordilleras.  His 
seizure  of  the  Inca,  Atahualpa,  was  undoubtedly  sug- 
gested to  him  by  the  seizure  of  Montezuma.  The 
massacre  of  the  Peruvians  in  Caxamarca  reads  like 
a  reminiscence  of  the  massacre  of  the  Aztecs  by  Alva- 

160 


CHAP,  ix.]    "CONQUEST  OF  PERU"  —  "PHILIP  II."    161 

rado  in  Mexico.  The  fighting,  if  fighting  it  may  be 
called,  presents  the  same  features  as  are  found  in  the 
battles  of  Cortes.  So  far  as  there  is  any  difference  in 
the  two  narratives,  this  difference  is  not  in  favour 
of  the  later  book.  If  Pizarro  bears  a  likeness  to 
Cortes,  the  likeness  is  but  superficial.  His  soul  is  the 
soul  of  Cortes  habitans  in  sicco.  There  is  none  of  the 
frankness  of  the  conqueror  of  Mexico,  none  of  his 
chivalry,  little  of  his  bluff  good  comradeship.  Pizarro 
rather  impresses  one  as  mean-spirited,  avaricious,  and 
cruel,  so  that  we  hold  lightly  his  undoubted  courage, 
his  persistency,  and  his  endurance.  Moreover,  the 
Peruvians  are  too  feeble  as  antagonists  to  make  the 
record  of  their  resistance  an  exciting  one.  They  lack 
the  ferocity  of  the  Aztec  character,  and  when  they  are 
slaughtered  by  the  white  men,  the  tale  is  far  more 
pitiful  than  stirring.  Even  Prescott's  art  cannot  make 
us  feel  that  there  is  anything  romantic  in  the  conquest 
and  butchery  of  a  flock  of  sheep.  The  outrages  per- 
petrated upon  an  effeminate  people  by  their  Spanish 
masters  form  a  long  and  dreary  record  of  robbery  and 
rape  and  it  is  inevitably  monotonous. 

Another  fundamental  defect  in  the  subject  which 
Prescott  chose  was  thoroughly  appreciated  by  him. 
"Its  great  defect,"  he  wrote  in  1845,  "is  want  of 
unity.  A  connected  tissue  of  adventures  .  .  .  but 
not  the  especial  interest  that  belongs  to  the  Iliad  and 
to  the  Conquest  of  Mexico."  In  another  memorandum 
(made  in  1846)  he  calls  his  subject  "second  rate, — 
quarrels  of  banditti  over  their  spoils."  This  criticism 
is  absolutely  just,  and  it  well  explains  the  inferiority 
of  the  story  of  Peru  when  we  contrast  it  with  the  book 
which  went  before.  Up  to  the  capture  of  the  Inca 


162  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PBESCOTT          [CHAP. 

there  is  no  lack  of  unity ;  but  after  that,  the  stream  of 
narration  niters  away  in  different  directions,  like  some 
river  which  grows  broader  and  shallower  until  at  last 
in  a  multitude  of  little  streams  it  disappears  in  dry 
and  sandy  soil.  The  fault  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
writer.  It  is  inherent  in  the  subject.  Nowhere  has 
Prescott  written  with  greater  skill.  It  is  only  that 
no  display  of  literary  art  can  give  dignity  and  dis- 
tinction to  that  which  in  itself  is  unheroic  and  some- 
times even  sordid.  The  one  passage  which  stands  out 
from  all  the  rest  is  that  which  sets  before  us  the  famous 
incident  at  Panama,  when  Pizarro,  at  the  head  of  his 
little  band  of  followers,  mutinous,  famished,  and  half- 
naked,  still  boldly  scorns  all  thought  of  a  return. 

"  Drawing  his  sword  he  traced  a  line  with  it  on  the  sand 
from  East  to  West.  Then,  turning  towards  the  South, 
4  Friends  and  comrades  ! '  he  said,  l  on  that  side  are  toil,  hun- 
ger, nakedness,  the  drenching  storm,  desertion,  and  death  ;  on 
this  side  ease  and  pleasure.  There  lies  Peru  with  its  riches ; 
here,  Panama  and  its  poverty.  Choose,  each  man,  what  best 
becomes  a  brave  Castilian.  For  my  part,  I  go  to  the  South.' 
So  saying,  he  stepped  across  the  line." 

Here  is  an  heroic  event  told  with  that  simplicity 
which  means  effectiveness.  This  is  the  one  page 
in  the  Peru  where  the  narrator  makes  us  thrill 
with  a  sense  of  what,  in  its  way,  verges  upon  moral 
sublimity. 

As  to  the  historical  value  of  the  book,  it  stands  in 
much  the  same  category  as  the  Conquest  of  Mexico. 
All  that  relates  to  the  actual  history  of  the  Conquest 
is  told  with  the  same  accurate  regard  for  the  original 
authorities  which  Prescott  always  showed,  and  for  this 
part  of  the  narrative,  the  original  authorities  are 


ix.]       "CONQUEST  OF  PERU "  — "  PHILIP  II."        163 

worthy  of  credence.  The  preliminary  chapters  on 
Peruvian  antiquities  are  less  satisfactory  even  than 
the  corresponding  portions  of  the  other  book.  Pres- 
cott  found  them  very  hard  to  write.  He  was  conscious 
that  the  subject  was  a  formidable  one.  He  did  the 
best  he  could  and  all  that  any  one  could  possibly 
have  done  at  the  time  in  which  he  wrote.  Even  now, 
after  the  elaborate  explorations  and  researches  of 
Bandelier,  Markham,  Baessler,  Cunow,  and  others,  the 
social  and  political  relations  of  the  Peruvians  are 
little  understood.  Much  has  been  learned  of  their  art 
and  of.  the  monuments  which  they  have  left  behind ; 
but  of  their  institutional  history  the  records  still  re- 
main obscuia.  The  modern  student,  however,  discov- 
ers many  indications  that  they,  too,  like  the  Aztecs, 
were  of  the  Ked  Race,  and  that  their  government  was 
based  upon  the  clan  system;  so  that  even  the  Inca 
himself,  like  the  Mexican  war-chief,  was  merely  the 
elected  executive  of  a  council  of  the  gentes.  Here,  as 
in  Mexico,  the  Spaniards  carelessly  described  in  terms 
of  Europe  the  institutions  which  they  found,  and 
made  no  serious  attempt  to  understand  them.  Even 
the  account  of  the  Peruvian  religion  which  Prescott 
gives,  in  accordance  with  the  statements  of  the  early 
Catholic  missionaries,  needs  considerable  modification.1 
The  Spanish  chroniclers  whom  Prescott  followed 
describe  the  Peruvians  as  united  under  a  great  mon- 
archy, —  an  "  empire, " —  the  head  of  which,  the  Inca, 
was  an  hereditary  and  absolute  ruler,  whose  person 
was  sacred  in  that  he  was  divine  and  the  sole  giver  of 
law.  The  system  was,  therefore,  a  theocratic  one,  with 
the  chief  priest  appointed  by  the  Inca.  There  was  a 

i  Brinton,  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  52  (Philadelphia,  1868). 


164  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

nobility,  but  the  great  offices  of  state  were  filled  by 
the  members  of  the  imperial  family.  The  rule  of  the 
Inca  extended  over  a  vast  territory,  and  of  it  he  was 
the  supreme  lord,  having  his  wives  from  among  the 
Virgins  of  the  Sun,  the  fifteen  hundred  beautiful  maid- 
ens who  abode  in  the  Palace  of  the  Sun  in  Cuzco.  Over 
the  wonderful  system  of  roads  which  intersected  the 
empire,  the  couriers  of  the  Inca  passed  back  and  forth 
with  the  commands  of  their  master,  to  which  all  gave 
heed.  The  Peruvian  religion  was  strongly  monothe- 
istic in  that  it  recognised  the  unity  and  preeminence 
of  a  supreme  deity. 

Recent  investigation  has  left  practically  nothing  of 
this  interesting  fiction  which  has  been  repeated  by 
hundreds  of  writers  with  every  possible  magnificence 
of  detail.  There  was  no  "empire"  of  Peru.  The 
Indians  of  the  coast  governed  themselves,  though  they 
sometimes  paid  tribute  to  the  Cuzco  Indians.  There 
was,  however,  no  homogeneous  nationality.  In  the 
valley  of  Cuzco  there  was  a  tribe  known  as  the  Inca, 
perhaps  seventy  thousand  souls  in  all,  who  were  locally 
divided  into  twelve  clans,  each  having  its  own  govern- 
ment, and  dwelling  in  its  own  village  or  ward ;  for  it 
was  a  combination  of  these  twelve  villages  which  made 
up  the  whole  settlement  collectively  styled  Cuzco.  A 
council  of  the  twelve  clans  chose  a  war-chief  whom 
some  of  the  other  tribes  called  "  Inca,"  but  who  was 
not  so  called  by  his  own  people.  He  was  not  an 
hereditary  chief;  he  could  be  deposed;  he  had  no 
especial  sanctity.  The  Virgins  of  the  Sun  were  some- 
thing very  different  from  virgins.  The  road  system 
of  the  Peruvians  really  constituted  no  system  at  all. 
The  nobles  were  not  nobles.  The  religion  was  not 


ix.]       "CONQUEST  OF  PERU "  —  " PHILIP  II."        165 

monotheistic,  but  embodied  the  worship  not  only  of 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,  but  of  rocks,  mountains,  stone 
idols,  and  a  variety  of  fetishes.  Metal-work,  pottery, 
weaving,  and  building  were  the  chief  arts  of  the  Peru- 
vians; but  in  them  all,  quaintness,  utility,  and  per- 
manence were  more  conspicuous  than  beauty.1 

Disregarding,  however,  all  questions  of  Peruvian 
archasology,  we  may  accept  the  judgment  passed  upon 
the  Conquest  of  Peru  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  of 
modern  investigators,  Sir  Clements  Markham,  who,  as 
a  young  man,  knew  Prescott  well,  and  to  whom  the 
reading  of  this  book  proved  to  be  an  inspiration  in  his 
chosen  field.  Long  after  Prescott's  death,  and  speak- 
ing with  the  fuller  knowledge  of  the  subject  which  he 
had  acquired,  he  declared  of  the  Peru :  "  It  deservedly 
stands  in  the  first  rank  as  a  judicious  history  of  the 
Conquest." 

The  History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  II.  remains  an 
unfinished  work.  Its  subject,  of  course,  provokes  a 
comparison  with  the  two  brilliant  histories  by  Motley, 
—  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  The  History  of  the 
United  Netherlands.  The  interest  in  this  comparison 
lies  in  the  view  which  each  of  the  historians  has  taken 
of  the  gloomy  Philip.  The  contrasted  temperaments  of 
the  two  writers  are  well  indicated  in  a  letter  which  Mot- 
ley sent  to  Prescott  after  the  first  volume  of  Philip  II. 
had  appeared.  He  wrote :  — 

"  I  can  vouch  for  its  extraordinary  accuracy  both  of  nar- 
ration and  of  portrait-painting.  You  do  not  look  at  people 

1  See  the  section  by  Markham  on  "  The  Inca  Civilisation  in  Peru," 
in  Winsor,  A  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  i. 
(Boston,  1889) ;  and  an  interesting  summary  of  the  results  of  eleven 
years  researches  by  Bandelier  in  a  paper  entitled  "  The  Truth  about 
Inca  Civilisation,"  published  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  March,  1906. 


166  WILLIAM   HICKLING   PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

or  events  from  my  point  of  view,  but  I  am,  therefore,  a 
better  witness  to  your  fairness  and  clearness  of  delineation 
and  statement.  You  have  by  nature  the  judicial  mind  which 
is  the  costume  de  rigueurof  all  historians.  ...  I  haven't  the 
least  of  it  —  I  am  always  in  a  passion  when  I  write  and  so 
shall  be  accused,  very  justly  perhaps,  of  the  qualities  for 
which  Byron  commended  Mitford,  « wrath  and  partiality.'  " 

The  two  men,  indeed,  approached  their  subject  in 
very  different  fashion.  In  Motley,  rigidly  scientific 
though  he  was,  there  are  always  a  touch  of  emotion,  a 
love  of  liberty,  a  hatred  of  oppression.  He  once  wrote 
to  his  father  that  it  gratified  him  "  to  pitch  into  the 
Duke  of  Alva  and  Philip  II.  to  my  heart's  content." 
Prescott,  on  the  other  hand,  was  more  detached,  partly 
because  he  was  by  nature  tolerant  and  calm ;  and  it 
may  be  also  because  his  protracted  Spanish  studies  had 
given  him  unconsciously  the  Spanish  point  of  view. 
He  even  came  at  last  to  adopt  this  theory  himself, 
and  he  wrote  of  it  in  a  humorous  way.  Thus  to  Lady 
Lyell,  he  declared:  — 

"  If  I  should  go  to  heaven  ...  I  shall  find  many  acquaint- 
ances there,  and  some  of  them  very  respectable,  of  the  olden 
time.  .  .  .  Don't  you  think  I  should  have  a  kindly  greeting 
from  good  Isabella  ?  Even  Bloody  Mary,  I  think,  will  smile  on 
me;  for  I  love  the  old  Spanish  stock,  the  house  of  Trastamara. 
But  there  is  one  that  I  am  sure  will  owe  me  a  grudge,  and 
that  is  the  very  man  I  have  been  making  two  good  volumes 
upon.  With  all  my  good  nature,  I  can't  wash  him  even  into 
the  darkest  French  grey.  He  is  black  and  all  black.  .  .  . 
Is  it  not  charitable  to  give  Philip  a  place  in  heaven  ?  " 

Again,  he  styles  Philip  one  "  who  may  be  considered 
as  to  other  Catholics  what  a  Puseyite  is  to  other  Protes- 
tants." And  elsewhere  he  confesses  to  "a  sneaking 
fondness  for  Philip."  It  was  very  like  him,  this  hesi- 


ix.]       "CONQUEST  OF  PERU "  — " PHILIP  II."        167 

tation  to  condemn ;  and  it  recalls  a  memorandum  which 
he  made  while  writing  his  Peru:  " never  call  hard 
names  a  la  Southey."  Hence  in  a  letter  of  his  to 
Motley,  who  had  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  Dutch  Republic, 

—  a  letter  which  forms  an  interesting  complement  to 
Motley's  note  to  him,  he  wrote :  — 

"  You  have  laid  it  on  Philip  rather  hard.  Indeed,  you 
have  whittled  him  down  to  such  an  imperceptible  point  that 
there  is  hardly  enough  of  him  left  to  hang  a  newspaper 
paragraph  on,  much  less  five  or  six  volumes  of  solid  history 
as  I  propose  to  do.  But  then,  you  make  it  up  with  your 
own  hero,  William  of  Orange,  and  I  comfort  myself  with 
the  reflection  that  you  are  looking  through  a  pair  of  Dutch 
spectacles  after  all." 

Prescott's  Philip  II.  raised  no  such  questions  of  ac- 
curacy as  followed  upon  the  publications  of  the  Mexican 
and  Peruvian  histories.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  the  sources  were  unimpeachable,  first- 
hand, and  contained  the  more  intimate  revelations  of 
incident  and  motive.  There  were  no  archaeological 
problems  to  be  solved,  no  obscure  racial  puzzles  to  per- 
plex the  investigator.  The  reign  of  Philip  had  simply 
to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  revelations  which 
Philip  himself  and  his  contemporaries  left  behind  them 

—  often  in  papers  which  were  never  meant  for  more 
than  two  pairs  of  eyes.    How  complete  are  these  revela- 
tions, one  may  learn  from  a  striking  passage  written 
by  Motley,  who  speaks  in  it  of  the  abundant  stores 
of  knowledge  which  lie  at  the  disposal  of  the  modern 
student  of  history, 

"  To  him  who  has  the  patience  and  industry,  many  mys- 
teries are  thus  revealed,  which  no  political  sagacity  or  criti- 
cal acumen  could  have  divined.  He  leans  over  the  shoulder 
of  Philip  the  Second  at  his  writing-table,  as  the  King  spells 


168  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

patiently  out,  with  cipher-key  in  hand,  the  most  concealed 
hieroglyphics  of  Parma,  or  Guise,  or  Mendoza.  .  .  .  He  enters 
the  cabinet  of  the  deeply  pondering  Burghleigh,  and  takes 
from  the  most  private  drawer  the  memoranda  which  record 
that  minister's  unutterable  doubtings ;  he  pulls  from  the  dress- 
ing-gown folds  of  the  stealthy,  soft-gliding  Walsingham  the 
last  secret  which  he  has  picked  from  the  Emperor's  pigeon- 
holes or  the  Pope's  pocket.  .  .  .  He  sits  invisible  at  the  most 
secret  councils  of  the  Nassaus  and  Barneveldt  and  Buys,  or 
pores  with  Farnese  over  coming  victories  and  vast  schemes 
of  universal  conquest ;  he  reads  the  latest  bit  of  scandal,  the 
minutest  characteristic  of  King  or  minister,  chronicled  by 
his  gossiping  Venetians  for  the  edification  of  the  Forty." l 

All  this  material  and  more  was  in  Prescott's  hands, 
and  he  made  full  use  of  it.  His  narrative,  moreover, 
was  told  in  a  style  which  was  easy  and  unstudied, 
less  glowing  than  in  the  Mexico,  but  even  better 
fitted  for  the  telling  of  events  which  were  so  preg- 
nant with  good  and  ill  to  succeeding  generations. 
In  the  pages  of  Philip  II.  we  have  neither  the  some- 
what formal  student  who  wrote  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  nor  the  romanticist  whose  imagination  was 
kindled  by  the  reports  of  Cortes.  Kather  do  we  find 
one  who  has  at  last  reached  the  highest  levels  of  his- 
torical writing,  and  who  with  perfect  poise  develops  a 
noble  theme  in  a  noble  way.  The  only  criticism  which 
has  ever  been  brought  against  the  book  has  come 
from  those  who,  like  Thoreau,  regard  literary  finish 
as  a  defect  in  historical  composition.  The  author  of 
Walden  seemed,  indeed,  to  single  out  Prescott  for 
special  animadversion  in  this  respect,  and  his  rather 
rasping  sentences  contain  the  only  jarring  notes  that 
were  sounded  by  any  contemporary  of  the  historian. 

i  Motley,  History  of  the  United  Netherlands,  i.  p.  54. 


ix.]       «  CONQUEST  OF  PERU  "  — "  PHILIP  II."        169 

Thoreau,  writing  of  the  colonial  historians  of  Massa- 
chusetts, such  as  Josselyn,  remarked  with  a  sort  of 
perverse  appreciation:  "They  give  you  one  piece  of 
nature  at  any  rate,  and  that  is  themselves,  smacking 
their  lips  like  a  coach- whip,  —  none  of  those  emascu- 
lated modern  histories,  such  as  Prescott's,  cursed  with 
a  style." 

If  style  be  really  a  curse  to  an  historian,  then  Pres- 
cott  remained  under  its  ban  to  the  very  last.  As  a 
bit  of  vivid  writing  his  description  of  the  battle  of 
Lepanto  was  much  admired,  and  Irving  thought  it 
the  best  thing  in  the  book.  A  bit  of  it  may  be  quoted 
by  way  of  showing  that  Prescott  in  his  later  years  lost 
nothing  of  his  vivacity  or  of  his  fondness  for  battle- 
scenes. 

First  we  see  the  Turkish  armament  moving  up  to 
battle  against  the  allied  fleets:  — 

"  The  galleys  spread  out,  as  usual  with  the  Turks,  in  the 
form  of  a  regular  half -moon,  covering  a  wider  extent  of  sur- 
face than  the  combined  fleets,  which  they  somewhat  exceeded 
in  number.  They  presented,  indeed,  as  they  drew  nearer,  a 
magnificent  array,  with  their  gilded  and  gaudily-painted 
prows,  and  their  myriads  of  pennons  and  streamers  fluttering 
gayly  in  the  breeze ;  while  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun 
glanced  on  the  polished  scimitars  of  Damascus,  and  on  the 
superb  aigrettes  of  jewels  which  sparkled  in  the  turbans 
of  the  Ottoman  chiefs.  .  .  .  The  distance  between  the  two 
fleets  was  now  rapidly  diminishing.  At  this  solemn  moment 
a  death-like  silence  reigned  throughout  the  armament  of  the 
confederates.  Men  seemed  to  hold  their  breath,  as  if  ab- 
sorbed in  the  expectation  of  some  great  catastrophe.  The 
day  was  magnificent.  A  light  breeze,  still  adverse  to  the 
Turks,  played  on  the  waters,  somewhat  fretted  by  the  con- 
trary winds.  It  was  nearly  noon  ;  and  as  the  sun,  mounting 
through  a  cloudless  sky,  rose  to  the  zenith,  he  seemed  to 


170  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

pause,  as  if  to  look  down  on  the  beautiful  scene,  where  the 
multitude  of  galleys  moving  over  the  water,  showed  like 
a  holiday  spectacle  rather  than  a  preparation  for  mortal 
combat." 

Then  we  have  the  two  fleets  in  the  thick  of  combat :  — 

"  The  Pacha  opened  at  once  on  his  enemy  a  terrible  fire 
of  cannon  and  musketry.  It  was  returned  with  equal  spirit 
and  much  more  effect ;  for  the  Turks  were  observed  to  shoot 
over  the  heads  of  their  adversaries.  The  Moslem  galley  was 
unprovided  with  the  defences  which  protected  the  sides  of 
the  Spanish  vessels;  and  the  troops,  crowded  together  on 
the  lofty  prow,  presented  an  easy  mark  to  their  enemy's 
balls.  But  though  numbers  of  them  fell  at  every  discharge, 
their  places  were  soon  supplied  by  those  in  reserve.  They 
were  enabled,  therefore,  to  keep  up  an  incessant  fire,  which 
wasted  the  strength  of  the  Spaniards ;  and,  as  both  Christian 
and  Mussulman  fought  with  indomitable  spirit,  it  seemed 
doubtful  to  which  side  victory  would  incline.  .  .  . 

"  Thus  the  fight  raged  along  the  whole  extent  of  the 
entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Lepanto.  The  volumes  of  vapour 
rolling  heavily  over  the  waters  effectually  shut  out  from  sight 
whatever  was  passing  at  any  considerable  distance,  unless 
when  a  fresher  breeze  dispelled  the  smoke  for  a  moment,  or 
the  flashes  of  the  heavy  guns  threw  a  transient  gleam  on  the 
dark  canopy  of  battle.  If  the  eye  of  the  spectator  could 
have  penetrated  the  cloud  of  smoke  that  enveloped  the  com- 
batants, and  have  embraced  the  whole  scene  at  a  glance,  he 
would  have  perceived  them  broken  up  into  small  detach- 
ments, separately  engaged  one  with  another,  independently 
of  the  rest,  and  indeed  ignorant  of  all  that  was  doing  in 
other  quarters.  The  contest  exhibited  few  of  those  large 
combinations  and  skilful  manoeuvres  to  be  expected  in  a 
great  naval  encounter.  It  was  rather  an  assemblage  of  petty 
actions,  resembling  those  on  land.  The  galleys,  grappling 
together,  presented  a  level  arena,  on  which  soldier  and  gal- 
ley-slave fought  hand  to  hand,  and  the  fate  of  the  engage- 
ment was  generally  decided  by  boarding.  As  in  most 
hand-to-hand  contests,  there  was  an  enormous  waste  of  life. 


ix.]        "CONQUEST  OF  PERU "  — " PHILIP  II."        171 

The  decks  were  loaded  with  corpses,  Christian  and  Moslem 
lying  promiscuously  together  in  the  embrace  of  death.  In- 
stances are  recorded  where  every  man  on  board  was  slain  or 
wounded.  It  was  a  ghastly  spectacle,  where  blood  flowed 
in  rivulets  down  the  sides  of  the  vessels,  staining  the  waters 
of  the  Gulf  for  miles  around. 

"  It  seemed  as  if  a  hurricane  had  swept  over  the  sea  and 
covered  it  with  the  wreck  of  the  noble  armaments  which  a 
moment  before  were  so  proudly  riding  on  its  bosom.  Little 
had  they  now  to  remind  one  of  their  late  magnificent  array, 
with  their  hulls  battered,  their  masts  and  spars  gone  or 
splintered  by  the  shot,  their  canvas  cut  into  shreds  and  float- 
ing wildly  on  the  breeze,  while  thousands  of  wounded  and 
drowning  men  were  clinging  to  the  floating  fragments  and 
calling,  piteously  for  help." 

Had  Prescott  lived,  his  history  of  Philip  II.  would 
have  been  extended  to  a  greater  length  than  any  of 
his  other  books  —  probably  to  six  volumes  instead  of 
the  three  which  are  all  that  he  ever  finished.  It  is 
likely,  too,  that  this  book  would  have  constituted  his 
surest  claim  to  high  rank  as  an  historian.  He  came 
to  the  writing  of  it  with  a  mind  stored  with  the  accu- 
mulations of  twenty  years  of  patient,  conscientious 
study.  He  had  lost  none  of  his  charm  as  a  writer, 
while  he-  had  acquired  laboriously  that  special  know- 
ledge and  training  which  are  needed  in  one  who  would 
be  a  master  of  historical  research.  Philip  II.  shows 
on  every  page  the  skill  with  which  information  drawn 
from  multifarious  sources  can  be  massed  and  mar- 
shalled by  one  who  is  not  only  documented  but  who 
has  thoroughly  assimilated  everything  of  value  which 
his  documents  contain.  No  better  evidence  of  Prescott's 
thoroughness  is  needed  than  the  tribute  which  was 
paid  to  him  by  Motley,  who  had  diligently  gleaned  in 
the  same  field.  He  said :  "  I  am  astonished  at  your 


172  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT       [CHAP,  ix 

omniscence.  Nothing  seems  to  escape  you.  Many  a 
little  trait  of  character,  scrap  of  intelligence,  or  dab  of 
scene-painting  which  I  had  kept  in  my  most  private 
pocket,  thinking  I  had  fished  it  out  of  unsunned 
depths,  I  find  already  in  your  possession."1 

And  we  may  well  join  with  Motley  in  his  expression 
of  regret  that  so  solid  a  piece  of  historical  composition 
should  remain  unfinished.  Writing  from  Rome  to  Mr. 
William  Amory  soon  after  Prescott's  death,  Motley 
said :  — 

"  I  feel  inexpressibly  disappointed  .  .  .  that  the  noble 
and  crowning  monument  of  his  life,  for  which  he  had  laid 
such  massive  foundations,  and  the  structure  of  which  had 
been  carried  forward  in  such  a  grand  and  masterly  manner, 
must  remain  uncompleted,  like  the  unfinished  peristyle  of 
some  stately  and  beautiful  temple  on  which  the  night  of 
time  has  suddenly  descended."2 

1  Quoted  by  Ogden,  Prescott,  p.  32. 

2  Cited  by  R.  C.  Winthrop,  address  before  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  June  U,  1877. 


CHAPTER  X 

PRESCOTT'S  RANK  AS  AN  HISTORIAN 

IN  forming  an  estimate  of  Prescott's  rank  among 
American  writers  of  history,  one's  thought  inevitably 
associates  him  with  certain  of  his  contemporaries.  The 
Spanish  subjects  which  he  made  his  own  invite  a  direct 
comparison  with  Irving.  His  study  of  the  sombre 
Philip  compels  us  to  think  at  once  of  Motley.  The 
broadly  general  theme  of  his  first  three  books  —  the 
extension  of  European  domination  over  the  New  World 
— brings  him  into  a  direct  relation  to  Francis  Parkman. 
The  comparison  with  Irving  is  more  immediately 
suggested  by  the  fact  that  had  Prescott  not  entered 
the  field  precisely  when  he  did,  the  story  of  Cortes 
and  of  the  Mexican  conquest  would  have  been  written 
by  Irving.  How  fortunate  was  the  chance  which  gave 
the  task  to  Prescott  must  be  obvious  to  all  who  are 
familiar  with  the  writings  of  both  men.  It  has  been 
said  that  in  Irving's  hands  literature  would  have  prof- 
ited at  the  expense  of  history  j  but  even  this  is  too 
much  of  a  concession.  Irving,  even  as  a  stylist,  was 
never  at  his  best  in  serious  historical  composition. 
His  was  not  the  spirit  which  gladly  undertakes  a  work 
de  longue  haleine,  nor  was  his  genial,  humorous  nature 
suited  to  the  gravity  of  such  an  undertaking.  His 
fame  had  been  won,  and  fairly  won,  in  quite  another 
field, — a  field  in  which  his  personal  charm,  his  mellow 
though  far  from  deep  philosophy  of  life,  and  his  often 


174  WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

whimsical  enjoyment  of  his  own  world  could  find 
spontaneous  and  individual  expression.  The  labour 
of  research,  the  comparison  of  authorities,  the  long 
months  of  hard  reading  and  steady  note-taking,  were 
not  congenial  to  his  nature.  He  moved  less  freely 
in  the  heavy  armour  of  the  historian  than  in  the 
easy-fitting  modern  garb  of  the  essayist  and  story- 
teller. The  best  that  one  can  say  of  the  style  of  his 
Granada,  his  Columbus,  and  his  Washington  is  that 
it  is  smooth,  well-worded,  and  correct.  It  shows  little 
of  the  real  distinction  which  we  find  in  many  of  his 
shorter  papers,  —  in  that  on  Westminster  Abbe}',  for 
example,  and  on  English  opinion  of  America ;  while 
the  peculiar  flavour  which  makes  his  account  of  Little 
Britain  so  delightful  is  wholly  absent. 

On  the  purely  historical  side,  the  two  men  are  in 
wholly  different  classes.  Irving  resembled  Livy  in 
his  use  of  the  authorities.  Such  sources  as  were 
ready  to  his  hand  and  easy  to  consult,  he  used  with 
conscientious  care  ;  but  those  that  were  farther  afield, 
and  for  the  mastery  of  which  both  time  and  labour 
were  demanded,  he  let  alone.  Thus,  his  history  of 
Columbus  was  prepared  in  something  less  than  two 
years,  in  which  period  both  his  preliminary  studies 
and  the  actual  composition  were  completed.  Yet  this 
book  was  the  one  over  which  he  took  the  greatest 
pains,  and  for  which  he  made  his  only  serious  attempt 
at  something  like  original  investigation.  His  Ma- 
homet was  confessedly  written  at  second  hand ;  while  in 
his  Washington  he  followed  in  the  main  such  records 
and  already  published  works  as  were  convenient.  In 
the  Granada  he  only  plays  with  history,  and  ascribes 
the  main  portion  of  the  narrative  to  a  mythical  ecclesi- 


x.]         PRESCOTT'S  RANK  AS  AN  HISTORIAN         175 

astic,  "  the  worthy  Fray  Antonio  Agapida,"  in  whose 
lineaments  we  may  not  infrequently  detect  a  strong 
family  resemblance  to  the  no  less  worthy  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker.  In  the  letter  which  Irving  wrote  to 
Prescott,  relinquishing  to  him  the  subject  of  Cortes, 
he  lets  us  see  quite  plainly  the  very  moderate  amount 
of  reading  which  he  had  been  doing.1  He  had  dipped 
into  Solis,  Bernal  Diaz,  and  Herrera,  using  them,  so 
he  said,  "as  guide-books."  Upon  the  basis  of  this 
reading  he  had  sketched  out  the  entire  narrative, 
and  had  fallen  to  work  upon  the  actual  history  with 
the  intention  of  "  working  up "  other  material  as  he 
went  along.  When  we  compare  these  easy-going 
methods  with  the  scientific  thoroughness  of  Prescott, 
his  ransacking,  by  agents,  of  every  important  library 
in  Europe,  his  great  collection  of  original  documents, 
the  many  years  which  he  gave  to  the  study  of  them, 
and  the  conscientious  judgment  with  which  he  weighed 
and  balanced  them,  we  cannot  fail  to  see  how  much 
the  world  has  gained  by  Irving's  act  of  generous  self- 
abnegation.  It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  he  himself,  at 
the  time  when  Prescott  wrote  to  him,  was  beginning  to 
doubt  whether  he  had  not  undertaken  a  task  unsuited 
to  his  inclinations  and  beyond  his  powers.  "Ever 
since  I  have  been  meddling  with  the  theme,"  he  said, 
"its  grandeur  and  magnificence  had  been  growing  upon 
me,  and  I  had  felt  more  and  more  doubtful  whether  I 
should  be  able  to  treat  it  conscientiously,  —  that  is  to 
say,  with  the  extensive  research  and  thorough  investi- 
gation which  it  merited." 

Professor  Jameson  hazards  the  conjecture*  that  Ir- 

1  Letter  of  January  18,  1839. 

2  Historical  Writing  in  America,  pp.  97-98. 


176  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

ving's  real  importance  in  the  development  of  Ameri- 
can historiography  is  not  at  all  to  be  discerned  in  the 
serious  works  which  have  just  been  mentioned,  but 
rather  in  his  quaintly  humorous  picture  of  New  York 
under  the  Dutch,  contained  in  the  pretended  narra- 
tion of  Diedrich  Knickerbocker,  and  published  as 
early  as  1809.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  as  Pro- 
fessor Jameson  says,  this  book  did  much  to  excite 
both  interest  and  curiosity  concerning  the  Dutch 
regime.  "Very  likely  the  great  amount  of  work 
which  the  state  government  did  for  the  historical 
illustration  of  the  Dutch  period,  through  the  re- 
searches of  Mr.  Brodhead  in  foreign  archives,  had 
this  unhistorical  little  book  as  one  of  its  principal 
causes."  Here,  indeed,  is  only  one  more  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  the  work  which  one  does  in  his  natu- 
ral vein  and  in  his  own  way  is  certain  not  only  to 
be  his  best,  but  to  exercise  a  genuine  influence  in 
spheres  which  at  the  time  were  quite  beyond  the 
writer's  consciousness. 

Something  has  already  been  said  concerning  Pres- 
cott  in  his  relationship  to  Motley  as  an  historian.  A 
brief  but  more  explicit  comparison  may  be  added 
here.  The  diligence  and  zeal  of  the  investigator  both 
men  shared  on  even  terms.  The  only  advantage  which 
Motley  possessed  was  the  opportunity,  denied  to  Pres- 
cott,  of  prosecuting  his  own  researches,  of  discovering 
his  own  materials,  and  of  visiting  and  living  in  the 
very  places  of  which  he  had  to  write,  instead  of  work- 
ing largely  through  the  eyes  and  brains  of  other  men. 
This  was  a  very  real  advantage ;  for  the  inspiration  of 
the  search  and  of  the  scenes  themselves  gave  a  keen 
stimulus  to  the  ambition  of  the  scholar  and  a  glow  to 


x.]         PRESCOTT'S  RANK  AS  AN   HISTORIAN         177 

the  imagination  of  the  writer.  One  attaches  less  im- 
portance to  Motley's  academic  training ;  for  while  it 
was  broader  than  that  of  Prescott,  and  comprised  the 
valuable  teaching  which  was  given  him  in  the  two 
great  universities  of  Berlin  and  Gottingen,  we  cannot 
truthfully  assert  that  Prescott' s  equipment  was  inferior 
to  that  of  his  contemporary.  Indeed,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  and  Philip  II.  can  better  stand  the  test  of 
searching  criticism  than  Motley's  Dutch  Republic. 

Motley  is,  indeed,  the  most  "literary"  of  all  the  so- 
called  "  literary  historians."  In  the  glow  and  fervour 
of  his  narrative  he  is  unsurpassed.  He  feels  all  the 
passion  of  the  times  whereof  he  writes,  and  he  makes 
the  reader  feel  it  too.  He  has,  moreover,  a  power  of 
drawing  character  which  Prescott  seldom  shows  and 
which,  when  he  shows  it,  he  shows  in  less  degree. 
Motley  writes  with  the  magnetism  of  a  great  pleader 
and  with  something  also  of  the  imagination  of  a  poet. 
Unlike  Prescott,  he  understands  the  philosophy  of  his- 
tory and  delves  beneath  the  surface  to  search  out  and 
reveal  the  hidden  causes  of  events.  Yet  first  and  last 
and  all  the  time,  he  is  a  partisan.  He  is  pleading  for  a 
cause  far  more  than  he  is  seeking  for  impartial  truth. 
In  this  respect  he  resembles  Mommsen,  whose  Romische 
Geschichte  is  likewise  in  its  later  books  a  splendid  piece 
of  partisanship.  Motley  is  an  American  and  a  Protes- 
tant, and  therefore  he  is  eloquent  for  liberty  and 
harsh  toward  what  he  views  as  superstition.  Will- 
iam the  Silent  is  his  hero  just  as  Caesar  is  Momm- 
sen's,  and  he  hates  tyranny  as  Mommsen  hated  the 
insolence  of  the  Roman  Junkerthum.  This  vivid  feel- 
ing springing  from  intensity  of  conviction  makes  both 
books  true  masterpieces,  nor  to  the  critical  scholar 


178  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT          [CHAP. 

does  it  greatly  lessen  their  value  as  historical  composi- 
tions. Yet  in  each,  one  has  continually  to  check  the 
writer,  to  modify  his  statements,  and  to  make  allow- 
ance for  his  very  individual  point  of  view.  In  reading 
Prescott,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  of  the  sort  is  nec- 
essary. He  is  free  from  the  passion  of  politics,  his 
judgment  is  impartial,  and  those  who  read  him  feel, 
as  an  eminent  scholar  has  remarked,  that  they  are 
listening  to  a  wise  and  learned  judge  rather  than  to  a 
skilful  advocate.  Even  in  the  sphere  of  characterisa- 
tion, Prescott  is  more  sound  than  Motley,  even  though 
he  be  not  half  so  forceful.  Re-reading  many  of  the 
portraits  which  the  latter  has  drawn  for  us  in  glowing 
colours,  the  student  of  human  nature  will  perceive 
that  they  are  quite  impossible.  Take,  for  instance, 
Motley's  Philip  and  compare  it  with  the  Philip  whom 
Prescott  has  described  for  us.  The  former  is  not  a  man 
at  all.  He  is  either  a  devil,  or  a  lunatic,  or  it  may  be  a 
blend  of  each.  Indeed,  Motley  himself  in  conversa- 
tion used  to  describe  him  as  a  devil,  though  he  once 
remarked,  "He  is  not  my  head  devil."  Everywhere 
Philip  is  depicted  in  the  same  sable  hues,  without  a 
touch  of  light  to  relieve  the  blackness  of  his  character. 
On  the  other  hand,  Prescott  shows  us  one  who,  with 
all  his  cruelty,  his  hypocrisy,  and  his  superstition,  is 
still  quite  comprehensible  because,  after  all,  he  remains 
a  human  being.  Prescott  discovers  and  records  in  him 
some  qualities  of  which  Motley  in  his  sweeping  con- 
demnation takes  no  heed.  We  see  a  Philip  scrupu- 
lously faithful  to  his  duty  as  he  understands  it,  bearing 
toil  and  loneliness,  patient  to  his  secretaries,  gracious 
to  his  petitioners,  whom  he  tries  to  set  at  ease,  gener- 
ous in  his  patronage  of  art,  and  putting  aside  all  his 


x.]         PRESCOTT'S  BANK  AS  AN  HISTORIAN         179 

coldness  and  reserve  while  watching  the  progress  of 
his  favourite  architects  and  builders.  These  things  and 
others  like  them  count  perhaps  for  very  little  in  one 
sense ;  yet  in  another  they  bring  out  the  fact  that  Pres- 
cott  viewed  his  subject  in  the  clear  light  of  historic 
truth  rather  than  in  the  glare  of  fiery  prejudice. 

There  are  some  who  would  rate  Parkman  above 
Prescott.  They  speak  of  him  as  more  truly  an  Ameri- 
can historian  because  the  topic  which  he  chose  —  the 
development  of  New  France  —  has  a  direct  bearing 
upon  the  national  history  of  the  United  States.  This, 
however,  is  at  once  to  limit  the  word  "  American  "  in 
a  thoroughly  unreasonable  way,  and  also  to  allow  the 
choice  of  theme  to  prejudice  one's  judgment  of  the 
manner  in  which  that  theme  is  treated.  Parkman,  to 
be  sure,  has  merits  of  his  own,  some  of  which  are  less 
discernible  in  Prescott.  For  picturesqueness,  as  for 
accuracy,  both  men  are  on  a  level.  There  is  a 
greater  freshness  of  feeling  in  Parkman,  a  sort  of 
open  air  effect,  which  is  redolent  of  his  actual  experi- 
ence of  the  great  plains  and  the  far  Western  mountains 
in  the  days  which  he  passed  among  the  Indian  tribes. 
This  cannot  be  expected  of  one  whose  physical  infirmi- 
ties confined  him  to  the  limits  of  his  library.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  Prescott  chose  a  broader  field,  and  h-3 
made  that  field  more  thoroughly  his  own.  These  two 
—  Prescott  and  Parkman  —  must  take  rank  not  far 
apart.  Between  them,  they  have  divided,  so  to  speak, 
the  early  history  of  the  American  Continent  in  the 
sphere  which  lies  beyond  the  bounds  of  purely  Anglo- 
Saxon  conquest. 

Disciples  of  the  dismal  school  of  history  often  yield 
a  very  grudging  tribute  to  the  enduring  merit  of  what 


180  WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT         [CHAP.  x. 

Prescott  patiently  achieved.  Yet  in  their  own  field 
he  met  them  upon  equal  terms  and  need  not  fear 
comparison.  Though  self-trained  as  an  historical  in- 
vestigator, his  mastery  of  his  authorities  has  hardly 
been  excelled  by  those  whose  merit  is  found  solely  in 
their  gift  for  delving.  The  evidence  of  his  thorough- 
ness, his  judgment,  and  his  critical  faculty  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  documentary  treasures  of  his  foot-notes.  He 
did  not,  like  Mommsen,  write  a  brilliant  narrative  and 
leave  the  reader  without  the  ready  means  of  verifying 
what  he  wrote.  He  has,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  suf- 
fered the  scaffolding  to  remain  after  the  building  has 
been  completed."  Those  who  sneer  at  his  array  of 
testimony  are  none  the  less  unable  to  impeach  it. 
Though  historical  science  has  in  many  respects  made 
great  advances  since  his  death,  his  work  still  stands 
essentially  unshaken.  He  had  the  historical  conscience 
in  a  rare  degree ;  one  feels  his  fairness  and  is  willing 
to  accept  his  judgment.  If  he  seems  to  lack  a  special 
gift  for  philosophical  analysis,  the  plan  and  scope  of 
his  histories  did  not  contemplate  a  subjective  treat- 
ment. What  he  meant  to  do,  he  did,  and  he  did  it 
with  a  combination  of  historical  exactness  and  literary 
artistry  such  as  no  other  American,  at  least,  has  yet 
exhibited.  Without  the  humour  of  Irving,  or  the  fire 
of  Motley,  or  the  intimate  touch  of  Parkman,  he  is 
superior  to  all  three  in  poise  and  judgment  and  dis- 
tinction ;  so  that  on  the  whole  one  may  accept  the 
dictum  of  a  distinguished  scholar1  who,  in  summing 
up  the  merits  which  we  recognise  in  Prescott,  declares 
them  to  be  so  conspicuous  and  so  abounding  as  to 
place  him  at  the  head  of  all  American  historians, 
i  Dr.  C.  K.  Adams. 


INDEX 


Academy,  Royal  Spanish,  76, 
80. 

Adair,  James,  146. 

Adams,  Dr.  C.  K.,  quoted,  180. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  library 
of,  20 ;  absence  in  Europe, 
20,  23,  37  ;  professor  at  Har- 
vard, 23 ;  Minister  to  Eng- 
land, 37. 

Adams,  Sir  William,  37. 

Albert,  Prince,  105,  106. 

Amory,  Thomas  C.,  43. 

Amory,  William,  letter  to,  172. 

Athenseum,  Boston,  19,  20,  21. 

Aztecs,  76,  82,  136,  143,  144, 
146 ;  as  viewed  by  Wilson, 
147-151 ;  Morgan's  view  of, 
152-155  ;  later  opinions  re- 
garding, 155-156. 


Bancroft,  George,  10 ;   letters 

to,    48,    114,    117 ;    reviews 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  69  ; 

honour    conferred    on,    86 ; 

quoted,  87  ;  estimate  of,  122. 
Bancroft,  H.  H.,   quoted,  153, 

159. 
Bandelier,  A.  F.,  155,  163,  165  ; 

quoted,  136,  153,  154. 
Bentley,   Richard,  69,  80,  85, 

112,  116,  117. 


Bradford,  Governor  William,  8. 
Brougham,     Lord,     Prescott's 

description  of,  107,  108. 
Brown,      Charles      Brockden, 

novels  of,  5  ;  Life  of,  65, 112. 
Bunsen,  Baron,  107,  108. 
Byron,    Lord,    Prescott's   esti- 
mate of,    113 ;   as  exponent 

of  romanticism,  122  ;  quoted, 

166. 

C 
Calderon  de  La  Barca,  Sefior, 

76,  91. 
Carlisle,       Lord,       Prescott's 

friendship  with,  88,  91,  104, 

105,  106. 
Carlyle,     Thomas,     Prescott's 

comment  on,  114. 
Channing,  W.  E.,  28,  107,  124, 

126. 
Charles  V.,    History   of,   117, 

118. 

Circourt,  Comte  Adolphe  de,  71. 
Club-Room,  edited  by  Prescott, 

42. 

Cogswell,  J.  G.,  74,  75. 
Conde\  History  of  the  Arabs  in 

Spain,  65,  130. 
Cooper,  Sir  Astley,  37. 
Corte"s,  Hernan,  134,  135,  155 ; 

quoted,  136 ;  attack  on  Cholu- 

lans,  137,  138  ;  retreat  from 

Mexico,  141,  142 ;  character 


181 


182 


WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT 


of,  143,  144,  147,  151 ;  com- 
pared  with  Pizarro,  160,  161. 
Cashing,  Caleb,  88. 


Dante,    Prescott's    admiration 

for,  46. 

Daudet,  Alphonse,  86. 
Dexter,  Franklin,  42. 
Diaz,  Bernal,  146,  159 ;  quoted, 

144. 
Dickens,  Charles,   entertained 

by  Prescott,  91 ;  preferred  by 

him  to  Thackeray,  115. 
Dumas,  Alexandre,  115. 
Dunham,  Dr.  S.  P.,  70,  126. 

E 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  7,  9. 
English,  James,  Prescott's  sec- 
retary, 58,  59,  60,  61,  63,  64. 
Everett,  A.  H.,  77. 
Everett,  Edward,  25,  106. 


Farre,  Dr.,  37. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  begin- 
nings of,  52,  61 ;  progress, 
62-65;  completion  and  pub- 
lication, 66-71 ;  success  of, 
69-71,  77,  79,  95  ;  style  of, 
121, 127 ;  historical  accuracy, 
129,  130,  131,  132. 

Ford,  Richard,  criticises  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  70 ;  his 
ridicule  of  Prescott's  style, 
124-126 ;  Prescott's  reply, 
127,  128;  quoted,  129,  130. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  5 ;  style 
of,  129. 

G 

Gardiner,  Rev.  Dr.  John  S., 
18,  19. 


Gardiner,  William,  20,  21,  22, 
40. 

Gayangos,  Don  Pascual  de, 
reviews  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, 70,  132 ;  aids  Prescott, 

76,  77,  101. 

Grenville,     Thomas,     quoted, 

142. 
Guatemozin,  character  of,  143, 

144 ;  successor  of  Montezuma, 

135,  154. 
Guizot,  M.,  reviews  Philip  II., 

116. 

H 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  quoted, 

77,  78. 

Hallam,  Henry,  praises  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  71  ;  Pres- 
cott's acquaintance  with,  108. 

Harper  Brothers,  publish  Con- 
quest  of  Mexico,  79,  80;  pub- 
lish Conquest  of  Peru,  84; 
Prescott's  generosity  to,  116. 

Harvard  College,  faculty  of,  in 
1811,  22,  23,  25;  entrance 
examinations,  24  ;  curricu- 
lum, 24,  25;  methods,  25, 
26,  33 ;  confers  degree  upon 
Prescott,  80. 

Hickling,  Thomas,  15,  35, 
36. 

Higginson,  Mehitable,  16. 

Higginson,  T.  W.,  113. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  quoted,  55. 

Humboldt,  Baron  Alexander 
von,  81,  101. 


Irving,  Washington,  charac 
teristics  of,  5 ;  quoted,  67 ; 
correspondence  regarding 
Conquest  of  Mexico,  74-77 ; 


INDEX 


183 


praised  by  Prescott,  113; 
compared  to  Goldsmith,  122  ; 
style  of,  124,  129;  his  Co- 
lumbus criticised  by  Prescott, 
134  ;  comment  on  Philip  II. , 
169 ;  compared  with  Pres- 
cott, 173-175,  180. 


Jackson,  Dr.  James,  31. 
Jameson,  Prof.  J.  F.,  quoted, 

3  n.,  64  w.,  176. 
Jeffrey,  Lord,  108. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  quoted, 

54 ;  style  of,  122,  129. 

K 

Kirk,  John  Foster,  Prescott's 
secretary,  87,  119,  136. 

Kirkland,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Thorn- 
ton, 22,  23. 

Knapp,  Jacob  Newman,  16. 


La  Bruyere,  quoted,  111. 

Lafitau,  Pere,  145. 

Lawrence,   Abbott,   103,  105 ; 

memoir  of,  118. 
Lawrence,  James,  97,  103. 
Lembke,  Dr.  J.  ,B.,  Prescott's 

agent  in  Spain,  77,  100,  101. 
Linzee,  Hannah,  43. 
Longfellow,    Henry  W.,  Pres- 
cott's admiration  for,  113. 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  12,  23, 

103. 
Lyell,   Lady,    entertained    by 

Prescott,  91 ;    letter  to,  115, 

166. 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  91,  103. 
Lynn,  Prescott's  house  at,  97, 

98. 


M 

Macaulay,  Lord,  anecdotes  of, 
108,  109 ;  style  of,  117,  133. 

Marina,  144. 

Markham,  Sir  Clements,  judg- 
ment of  Prescott's  Peru,  165. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Soci- 
ety, 57,  86, 120,  142,  172. 

Mather,  Cotton,  his  Magnolia, 
8. 

Mexico,  Conquest  of,  prepara- 
tions for,  72-77  ;  four  years 
of  work  on,  78-79 ;  publica- 
tion and  success  of,  79-81, 
95  ;  estimate  of,  133-159. 

Middle  States,  literature  in  the, 
4-6. 

Middleton,  Arthur,  26  ;  aids 
Prescott  in  Spain,  77,  100. 

Mommsen,  Theodor,  as  a  parti- 
san compared  with  Motley, 
177,  178 ;  compared  with 
Prescott,  180. 

Montezuma,  described  by  Pres- 
cott, 139,  143;  Spaniards' 
view  of,  153-156. 

Morgan,  Lewis  Henry,  Indian 
researches  of,  152,  153,  155, 
156  ;  quoted,  157. 

Motley,  J.  L.,  quoted,  89,  165, 
166,  167,  168,  171, 172  ;  com- 
pared with  Prescott,  176-179, 
180. 

N 

Nahant,  Prescott's  cottage  at, 
91,  96,  97. 

Navarrete,  M.  F.,  76,  80. 

New  England,  literature  in, 
6-10  ;  historians  of,  10-12. 

Noctograph,  description  of,  57. 

Northumberland,  Duke  of,  en- 
tertains Prescott,  110,  111. 


184 


WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT 


0 

Ogden,  Rollo,  quoted,  93,  172. 
Oxford  University,  38  ;  confers 
degree  on  Prescott,  106,  107. 


Parkman,  Francis,  style  of, 
133,  145 ;  compared  with 
Prescott,  179,  180. 

Parr,  Dr.  Samuel,  18. 

Parsons,  Theophilus,  42 ; 
quoted,  89. 

Peabody,  Dr.  A.  P.,  Harvard 
Reminiscences,  22  n. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  104. 

Peirce,  Benjamin,  25. 

Pepperell,  Prescott's  home  at, 
96,  97. 

Peru,  Conquest  of,  memorising 
of  parts  of,  59  ;  composition 
and  publication,  81,  82,  84, 
85,  95 ;  estimate  of,  160-165. 

Peruvians,  163-165. 

Phi  Beta  Kappa,  34. 

Philip  II.,  Prescott's  memoris- 
ing of  parts,  59 ;  obstacles 
in  way,  99-100  ;  preparations 
for,  101,  102  ;  two  volumes 
completed,  115,  116,  117; 
third  volume,  119  ;  estimate 
of,  165-172  ;  compared  with 
Dutch  Republic,  177. 

Pickering,  John,  memoir  of,  86. 

Pizarro,  Francisco,  160  ;  char- 
acter of,  161  ;  quoted,  162. 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  4. 

Prescott,  Catherine  Hickling, 
parentage  and  character,  15, 
16  ;  rearing  of  son,  16. 

Prescott,  Colonel  William,  13, 
14,  43. 

Prescott,  John,  13. 


Prescott,  Oliver,  14. 

Prescott,  Susan  Amory,  59,  93 ; 
marriage  to  Prescott,  42,  43  ; 
character,  43  ;  letters  to,  104, 
105,  111. 

Prescott,  William,  birth  and 
career,  14 ;  characteristics 
of,  15,  82,  83  ;  home,  14,  15  ; 
illness  of,  17 ;  removal  to 
Boston,  17,  18  ;  quoted,  67  ; 
death,  82. 

PRESCOTT,  William  Hickling, 
literary  importance  of,  12; 
birth  of,  15 ;  his  first  teachers, 
16 ;  traits  as  a  boy,  16,  17 ; 
prepares  for  college,  18,  19 ; 
his  tastes  in  reading,  19,  20  ; 
amusements,  20,  21,  22  ;  can- 
didate for  Harvard,  22 ;  letter 
to  father  about  examination, 
25,  26  ;  enters  college,  27  ; 
his  studies  and  ideals,  27  ; 
love  of  pleasure,  28 ;  laxity 
of  conduct,  28,  29,  30  ;  acci- 
dent, 31  ;  loss  of  eye,  31  ; 
effect  on  character,  32  ;  mag- 
nanimity, 32  ;  returns  to  col- 
lege, 32 ;  dislike  for  mathe- 
matics, 33;  commencement 
poem,  33,  34  ;  election  to  Phi 
Beta  Kappa,  34 ;  studies  law, 
34 ;  second  illness  and  tem- 
porary blindness,  34,  35 ; 
sails  for  Azores,  35,  36  ;  third 
illness,  36 ;  first  visit  to 
London,  36,  37  ;  visits  Paris 
and  Italy,  37,  38  ;  returns  to 
England,  38  ;  sails  for  home, 
38 ;  anxiety  regarding  career, 
39,  40  ;  vicarious  reading,  40, 
41 ;  first  attempts  at  compo- 
sition, 41,  42,  46  ;  marriage, 


INDEX 


185 


42,  43 ;  resolves  to  become 
a  man  of  letters,  44  ;  studies 
languages,  46,  46,  47;  inter- 
est in  Spanish,  47,  48  ;  drift 
toward  historical  composi- 
tion, 49,  50;  perplexity  in 
choosing  subject,  50,  51,  52; 
decides  upon  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  52,  53;  difficulties 
of  task,  54,  55 ;  time  of 
preparation  and  composition, 
55,  66,  62,  66  ;  his  methods, 
of  work,  56,  57,  58,  69,  61 ; 
his  memory,  33,  57,  58,  59  ; 
his  mode  of  life,  59,  60,  61, 
62  ;  death  of  daughter,  62,  63, 
73 ;  contributes  to  periodi- 
cals, 64,  65 ;  completes  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella,  66 ; 
search  for  publisher,  66,  67  ; 
terms  of  contract,  67  ;  suc- 
cess of  book,  68,  69,  70,  71, 
72,  95  ;  criticisms,  69,  70,  71 ; 
theological  studies  and  be- 
liefs, 73,  74  ;  begins  Mexican 
researches,  74,  75,  76,  77  ; 
correspondence  with  Irving, 
75 ;  writes  Conquest  of 
Mexico,  78,  79;  contract 
with  the  Harpers,  79,  80 ; 
honours  conferred  upon,  80, 
81 ;  writes  Conquest  of 
Peru,  81,  82,  84  ;  reception 
of  book,  85,  86;  death  of 
father,  82 ;  opinion  of  Ameri- 
can critics,  85  ;  period  of  in- 
activity, 83,  86  ;  political 
views,  89,  90  ;  entertainment 
of  friends,  91,  92,  93;  his 
boyish  ways,  93 ;  his  tact- 
lessness, 93 ;  his  Yankeeisms, 
94 ;  preparations  for  Philip 


IL,  99,  100,  101,  102;  his 
Boston  residence,  83,  96 ; 
the  homestead  at  Pepperell, 
96,  97 ;  his  cottage  at  Nahant, 
96,  97  ;  cottage  at  Lynn,  97, 
98  ;  third  visit  to  England, 
94,  102-111  ;  presented  at 
court,  105 ;  his  sensibility, 
110 ;  at  zenith  of  his  fame, 
111,  112 ;  his  opinions  of 
contemporary  writers,  112, 
113,  114,  115;  completes  two 
volumes  of  Philip  II. ,  115, 

116,  117  ;  rewrites  conclusion 
of  Robertson's  Charles   V., 

117,  118  ;  health  fails,  118 ; 
completes    third  volume    of 
Philip     IL,      119  ;      death, 
119;    his  burial,    119,    120; 
style  and  accuracy  of  Fer- 
dinand  and   Isabella,    121- 
131 ;  criticised  by  Ford,  124, 
125,  126  ;  his  place  as  an  his- 
torian, 173-181..- 


Quincy,  Josiah,  7,  25. 

R 

Raumer,  Friedrich  von,  81. 

Review,  Edinburgh,  notices  of 
Prescott's  books,  70,  76,  85, 
116. 

Review,  English  Quarterly,  46, 
70,  85. 

Review,  North  American,  Pres- 
cott's contributions  to,  41, 
46,  64,  65 ;  its  notices  of 
Prescott's  books,  62,  69. 

Robertson,  William,  117,  146. 

Rogers,  Samuel,  108,  109. 


186 


WILLIAM   HICKLING  PRESCOTT 


S 

Scott,  General  Winfield,  90,  91. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  6,  86,  108, 
122;  a  favourite  of  Pres- 
cott's, 41,  115 ;  quoted,  129. 

Shepherd,  Dr.  W.  R.  100  n. 

Simancas,  archives  at,  99,  100. 

Southern  States,  literature  in 
the,  2-4. 

Southey,  Robert,  20,  67 ; 
praises  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, 71 ;  quoted,  107. 

Sparks,  Jared,  12,  42 ;  esti- 
mate of,  9,  10  :  encourages 
Prescott,  46,  65,  68,  88. 

Stith,  Dr.  W.,  quoted,  3. 

Story,  Judge  Joseph,  25. 

Sumner,  Charles,  Prescott's 
friendship  with,  88,  89,  90. 


Talleyrand,  quoted,  11. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  43,  86; 
entertained  by  Prescott,  91, 
114  ;  tribute  to  Prescott,  114, 
115. 


Thierry,  Augustin,  54,  86. 

Thoreau,  Henry  D.,  quoted, 
168,  169. 

Ticknor,  George,  25,  94,  111  ; 
quoted,  19,  22,  26,  28,  43, 
48,  71,  84,  103,  127  ;  letters 
to,  46,  69,  70,  107,  117,118; 
reads  to  Prescott,  47. 

Tocqueville,  Alexis  de,  11,  71. 


Victoria,  Queen,  105,  106. 

W 

Ware,  John,  42. 

Wars,  Napoleonic,  21. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  21,  104. 

Wendell,  Prof.  Barrett,  5. 

Wilson,  J.  Grant,  quoted,  91  n. 

Wilson,  Robert  A.,  criticises 
Prescott's  Conquest  of  Mex- 
ico, 147,  148 ;  reply  to,  149- 
161. 

X 

Xenophon,  Prescott  compared 
with,  142,  143. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below, 


JUN151968 


100m-8,'65(F6282s8)2373 


PS2657.P4  1926 


3  2106  00207  9850 


